She's Like Candy
by writergrrrl
Summary: There's a new demon in Sunnydale. Spike and Willow are forced to work together.
1. Chapter 1

Willow could see the gust of air that always accompanied the dusting of a vampire hit the back of the slayer's twisting body and sighed in relief. She was doing her best to keep the vampires at a manageable flow, but that one had gotten by her thickening spell. Luckily, Xander had been at Buffy's back with that ax before it had attacked and given the small blonde a third opponent.

"Thanks, Xan," Buffy didn't pause in her kicks and punches even as she thanked the dark haired man.

"Not a problem." Xander had already turned back to face Anya and Giles, trying to keep his girlfriend from being hurt. "How we doin' up there, Wills?"

"Seven left." Willow could feel the energy coming from the vampires like an oil slick, black and deadly. These were different then Spike, more killing machine than cunning, planning adversary. She wondered briefly if that was why Spike didn't feel the same.

"Buffy!" Giles' shout brought Willow's attention back to the blonde who was throwing kicks and punches at a particularly large vampire. As she watched, a vampire, shielded from the slayer's view by the body of the other demon, fired a bolt from a crossbow aimed perfectly at her head.

The demon she was fighting exploded into dust as the arrow passed through its heart, but Buffy was spared as Spike threw himself into her side in a modified football tackle. They landed in a heap on the floor as the last of their enemies was dusted by a nearly drained Willow. Buffy pushed the unconscious Spike off of her with a look of disgust before turning to the rest of the group.

"Thank you, guys. I knew this was a big job, but I didn't know it was going to be *this* big."

Willow had knelt beside the blond head of the vampire on the floor, taking in how much blood he was losing from the gaping wound just above and to the right of his heart. Goddess, that's a lot of blood! He needs to be bandaged and fed, and soon.

"Guys," Willow had to raise her voice to be heard above the rest of the group. "Spike's hurt. We need to get back to Giles' apartment so we can get him cleaned up."

"Why? He's a big vampire, he can take care of himself." Buffy barely spared the prone body on the floor a glance before she turned back to Xander and Anya. "Let's go to the Bronze. It's early, and I'm all jittery from fighting."

"Sounds like a plan to me. After you change your `I just killed ten people' shirt, anyway."

Buffy pulled the hem of her shirt out with her thumb and forefinger. "I do look pretty nasty, huh."

"All you need is a chainsaw to complete the look." Xander snickered at his perceived brilliance. "An, what are you doing?"

"Helping Willow carry Spike, since she's so worn out from all the magic use and no one else seems to be concerned."

"Concerned about what? Willow's back?" Xander just shrugged his shoulders at Anya's exasperated look. "He has to have at least a hundred pounds on her."

"Then why don't you help instead of discussing wardrobe choices with the Slayer?" Anya's sweet smile was belied by the steel in her voice.

Xander sighed before taking Spike's arm from around his girlfriend's shoulders and draped it over his own, easing most of the oblivious man's weight from the small redhead. Giles slipped his arm around Spike's other side, nodding at Willow's softly mumbled thanks. Willow let her feet automatically follow Giles and Xanders as the two men drug the other from the echoing room.

"Ack! He's still bleeding!" Xander tried to get the blonde shifted so that his hand wasn't being soaked in the red substance.

_I hope we make it home soon._ Willow shook her head at her best friend's whining. _If we don't, and Spike wakes up before we get there, he's going to be angry and hungry. Not a good combination in a vampire. _

Taking a look at the way Xander was roughly handling the vampire, Willow smiled softly to herself. _Maybe we could just feed him Xander._

Willow was barely able to drag her feet by the time the rest of the group, now nearly a full block ahead, rounded the corner into the park. Great. Not only am I tired and all achy, but now I get to walk through the park almost alone! Why don't I just sit down on a bench with a sign saying `free lunch'!

Xander's sharp yelp startled the redhead from her thoughts, and Anya's answering scream pushed new life into her tired limbs. Willow ran along the winding sidewalk, senses alert to the sounds of fighting ahead.

She rounded the corner just in time to be taken to the ground by Spike's hastily dropped body. Xander was cradling his left hand to his chest while he held off vampires with a cross in his right. Giles had put down the blonde vampire in order to use both the sword and the crossbow he now wielded with practiced ease.

Buffy was surrounded by five other demons, obviously fledglings, who were taking turns rushing at the blonde. Willow took a moment to shake her head in amusement. Uh huh. This is the slayer who took down the Master. Somehow I doubt you guys stand a chance.

"What's the deal G-Man?" Xander had gotten his good hand on a sword and grunted as he used it to lop the head off a particularly ugly fledgling who had rushed at Anya.

"Yeah, I thought we got rid of these stupid buggers." Spike had regained consciousness enough to pull himself upright. Now he stood, wobbling, in the center of the sidewalk.

Willow sagged against Spike's side as she fought to keep a shield up around herself and the injured vampire. "Please, Spike. You're hurt."

"You're worse off than I am, Red. Now put down this wall and let me kick a little fledgling arse."

"I'm not certain, but I think that rather human looking purple man may be able to shed some light on the subject." Giles motioned to an extraordinary looking man standing to the side of the battle with a look of detached amusement on his face.

"Then let's go ask a few questions." Buffy staked the vampire she'd been playing with and somersaulted over another's head, back kicking him into Xander's waiting sword.

Willow tried to keep her eyes on her friends even as she felt her control slipping. The young witch sagged to the ground as the last of her energy seeped out into the fading wall. The last thing she saw before her eyes drifted closed was Spike leaping onto the nearest demon with a roar. _Stupid vampire. He... should be... resting... Resting... good_.

"Ungh!" The cry of pain pulled Willow up from the black pool she had been slowly sinking into. It took her exhausted brain a full five seconds longer to realize that it was her own voice that had woken her. Thankfully, she never fully registered the searing pain radiating from her abdomen, just above her dimpled navel.

The words being whispered harshly in her ear weren't English or any other human language Willow had ever heard. Something in her brain made her understand, though. It was almost as she were talking to herself.

_`The one with the sword nearly took me before I could get to you. I've carried this burden for too long, and I'm tired. To think I have been looking all over this town for the redheaded sorceress, and she comes to me. What was mine is now yours. Use it wisely. _

Willow felt something impossibly warm and sweet sliding down her throat. Her hands moved on their own to pull the source of such wonderful nectar closer, hesitating only a moment when they found themselves wrapped around the wrist and forearm of the purple demon man.

A pain sliced across her brain as if an electric current was running from one temple to the other. Willow's lithe body hit the ground and bowed as an agonizingly silent scream flew from her parted lips. The pain ricocheted down her spine and then pushed its way into her arms and legs. Willow whimpered as she felt the very cells of her body being invaded.

_`Shhh. It will only hurt for a moment. Sleep now, Brilliant One.' _

And Willow *did* sleep. The sounds of the taunting and staking ceased all at once, and the witch simply floated into the nothingness.


	2. Chapter 2

Willow blinked at the fuzzy scene moving before her eyes. She had just come back into her body from the well of nothingness to find herself nestled, as comfortably as possible, on Giles' lumpy living room couch. She could see the others crowded into the small room arguing about something, though she couldn't seem to make her ears hear them well enough to tell what it was that had them all so mad. She could see Giles standing in the door not drinking a cup of tea while Xander and Buffy seemed to be interrogating a bound Spike.

"You should. . . with her!" Buffy's voice was the first to break through the silence clinging to Willow's mind. She was pointing at Spike. "If. . . have happened!"

". . . bloody. . . urt, yo. . . ft bint!"

_Why does everyone sound like a bad radio station, and why is Spike bleeding_? Willow felt a tingling along her arms and legs and wondered how her entire body had managed the pins-and-needles feeling.

Willow wanted to talk. She *needed* to tell them that whatever it was wasn't Spike's fault. _Now, if I could only make the whole verbal thing happen._

"Lumpy." _Oh, good job Wills! That'll make them take notice._

As it was, Anya, who happened to be the only one sitting impassively on the chair beside the couch, stood so suddenly that she knocked into Giles, sending his cup of long forgotten tea out of his hand and across the back of Buffy's stained shirt.

"Anya!"

"Oh, shut up, Slayer." Anya had picked up a cup sitting on the coffee table and sat down beside Willow's hip. "She's waking up."

"Not Spike's fault." Willow tried sitting up, only to find herself too tired to do so. She took a sip of the water Anya held to her lips before trying to say anything else. "I hurt. What happened?"

"Fangless here let you get hurt." Xander jerked his thumb in Spike's direction. "Can I stake him now?"

"Bloody hell! She said it wasn't my fault!"

"She just woke up from some demon-imposed sleep. There's no telling how fuzzy her memory of the last few hours of her consciousness are."

"See?" Xander pointed at Giles. "He agrees with us. Buffy, go get Mr. Pointy."

"Why is Xander talking like Ash?" Willow had managed to pull herself into a sitting position, though her head now rested heavily against the back of the couch.

"Ash?" Giles shoved some pillows behind Willow's back and head in an attempt to make her more comfortable. "Was that the name of the demon? Did he say anything else to you?"

"Didn't get his name. I meant Ash from -Army of Darkness-. You know... `It's a trick. Get an ax.'"

Spike was laughing outright by the time Willow finished her Bruce Campbell impersonation. The rope holding him down to the kitchen chair strained across his chest as he threw his head back. _And what a lovely chest it is. Hey! Stick to the point, Wills. Think about the lovely, defined... Think about it later!_

"Spike had nothing to do with it. I tried to keep a wall up around us because we were too weak to fight. It went down, then Spike did that growly roar thing he does and went to fight."

"All I know, is that I was going for Mr. Purple Demon Guy when we got surrounded by more vamps. Giles tried to stab him, but missed." Buffy sunk down on the edge of the couch to hold her friend's hand as she spoke. "The next thing I know, Spike's yelling something about blood. When I dusted a vamp to see you, you were clinging to Mr. Purple's arm, drinking from a gash."

"I wondered what that was." Willow unconsciously licked along her lower lip. "It was sweet, not like honey. It was... I don't know how to describe it."

"Well, whatever it was, it looked like it hurt you." Anya still held the cup of water, holding it to Willow's lips once the girl finished speaking. "You did this writhing and screaming thing. I do that when Xander gives me orgasms sometimes, but it didn't look like the same thing."

"An!" Xander blushed up into the roots of his hair.

"Didn't know you had it in you, Chubs," Spike chuckled.

"Shut up Spike." Giles sounded tired. "When you looked like you were in pain, the demon who had held you just seemed to fade into nothing. All very fascinating now that I think about it."

"No! Not fascinating, watcher." Spike caught and held Willow's eyes with his own, and, for a moment, Willow thought she saw respect in their blue depths. "More bloody fucking scary."

Willow took the cup of water from Anya, grazing her fingers.

{`Give us the money!' Someone in a mask held a gun on a terrified looking Anya who stood behind the counter of the Magic Box.

`Okay.' Anya opened the drawer and pulled out the money as she spoke. `You're only getting this because I'm stuck in this stupid human body. If I were still a demon, you'd be *so* dead by now.'

`Whatever.' The guy tipped over a rack of crystals on his way out the door.}

"Willow? Are you okay?" Giles was shaking the redhead softly.

"Yeah. Sorry. I just kind of spaced out there for a minute." What the hell... *heck* was that?

"Did he say anything to you, Willow?" Giles was back in full Watcher mode, looking for anything to help them identify what or who that person was and what kind of effect contact with it could have on the young witch.

Willow pushed herself away from the couch, feeling much stronger suddenly. She went to Spike and slowly unraveled the knots holding him down. "He didn't *say* anything. It was like he was speaking inside my head."

She felt the steady gazes of her friends like a weight on her shoulders as she bent to unwrap Spike's legs.

This time, the flash was fast and without sound. It was nothing more than an image of a very naked Spike moving between the legs of an equally naked Buffy, his back a mass of deep scratches and bruises.

_Okay. Now I *know* I'm going crazy. _

"I... It wasn't English or any other human sounding language, but I knew what he was saying. Something about looking for a redheaded sorceress and carrying a burden for too long and being tired. Then he said that what was his was now mine and that I should use it wisely.

"Why hasn't anyone taken care of Spike?" Willow's eyes shown with unshed tears as she gazed at the still seeping hole in the blonde's shirt.

"Why should we?" Willow wasn't sure what was worse, the fact the Xander said the words, or that he sounded so uncaring saying them.

"You know. You're a real ass sometimes, Xan." Willow ignored the small uproar her words caused and went to heat up some blood for Spike. All the bandages in the world wouldn't do a thing if he didn't start healing from the inside soon.


	3. Chapter 3

"Here," Willow handed the mug of blood to a slightly smirking Spike. "Drink this, take off the shirt, and lay down on the couch."

"I love it when you're all demanding." Spike winked at her startled blush over the rim of the mug. "Of course, if you wanted me naked so bad, all you ever had to do was ask."

"Just get the shirt off so I can get a look at that hole." Willow fought back the heat rising up her face while she dragged out the ridiculously large first aid kit.

Okay. Bandages, check. Tape, check. Peroxide, check. . . When did they stop making men with stomachs like that? Hey now, back on track, hormone girl. Fix the bleeding hole in the amazingly firm chest, then think about those... When did it get so hot in here?

Willow was glad her hair had grown out enough to hide behind it a little. She really didn't want to hear anything more from Buffy and Xander tonight, and knew that blushing over Spike's body would bring more comments that she could reasonably be expected to deal with. Besides that, she knew Anya would have more than a few words of wisdom for her. Deciding that getting to work would make getting the job done better than trying to avert her eyes from the smooth skin and rippling muscles revealed when the blonde removed his shirt, Willow began washing the blood away from the wound.

"Why isn't this closing?"

"I don't know, pet." Spike put his hands behind his head and tried to force himself to relax. "Not like the Slayer let me get a look before they had me trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Hurts more than it should, though."

"Dammit." Willow turned to the unusually silent group scattered around the room at her back. "Couldn't one of you have even bothered to take a decent look at this? `There are splinters embedded in his chest! I can almost understand the tying up, but what, you couldn't even properly remove that arrow?"

Willow didn't even bother to wait for an answer. She simply grabbed a pair of tweezers and went to work pulling the long treads of wood from out of the vampire's chest. No one in the room spoke as she went about her task, the only sound coming in the form of soft growls of pain from the body beneath her hands.

After all the wood was removed, and the wound doused in liberal droughts of peroxide, Willow left the blonde with a stern `stay there', and went to wash her hands and heat him up some more blood. When Anya asked her if she was going to put any of the gauze on it, Willow grinned.

"No point putting nice clean gauze on it if I'm only going to have to replace it in ten minutes because he's still bleeding. Besides, the air will probably help it some."

Willow pulled the remaining two bags of blood, throwing them in the microwave, before making a note on the pad on the counter telling Giles to buy more. While she waited for Spike's snack to heat, she scrubbed her hands under water the turned her hands pink and left them slightly raw.

I hope Dawn's doing okay at the house.

{`Do I have to go? I'm much rather stay here and play with Xander.' Dawn, her soft features replaced by the sharp ridges of a vampire stood in the center of Giles' living room, gazing at Xander hungrily. `Can I play with him, Anya? I promise not to hurt him too much.'}

Willow snapped back to reality with the shrill beeping of the microwave. Running a shaking hand over her face, the witch moved to pour the blood into a large thermal mug.

Okay. That explains everything. I must be seeing some alternate dimension. Because there's no way Anya would ever let anyone take money out of her till, Dawn will never be vamped and not have a soul, and Buffy with Spike? The redhead shuddered at that thought. That would just be stupid and wrong for so many different reasons!

She entered the living room and instantly regretted not having Spike come to the kitchen with her. Xander was sitting across from his prone body, a look only describable as a pout on his face. Buffy continued to pace in front of Giles and Anya, who occupied the two chairs to the side of the couch.

"I can't believe she's nursing him after what he let happen to her!" Xander had his back to the redhead, so she wasn't surprised that he hadn't noticed she'd come back into the room.

Not that he wouldn't be saying the same thing it I were right in front of him.

"I can't believe that you're still on that."

"Willow!" Buffy rounded on her best friend and looked at her wildly. "You could be dead right now! As it is, we don't know exactly what's going on with the whole demon blood thing."

"I can't believe that the two of you are blaming Spike, a vampire who has no soul and who has threatened and/ or outright *tried* to kill me many times, for not looking out for me when those who are supposed to be my best friends in the world couldn't be bothered to do it!"

"I don't know, Red, I like you more than most." Spike smiled at Willow and took the cup from her hands, eagerly gulping it down and watching the rest of the room.

"Thanks," Willow turned to Buffy. "He was in just as much danger as the rest of us, and reacted just as he should have. He tried to defend himself. I'm not faulting him for that. I can't.

"Giles, can Anya borrow your car? I want to go to sleep."

"I could drive you." Xander stood from his seat.

"Right now I don't really want to be around you. I don't need any more lectures or whining, just sleep."

"Sure." Giles stood and retrieved the keys to the car and handed them to a bouncing Anya. "Do be careful with it, won't you?"

"Yep," Anya kissed Xander swiftly and grabbed her jacket. "Come on witch, before he changes his mind."

"Want a ride, Spike? It'll be dawn soon." Willow slid suddenly tired arms through the sleeves of her own coat.

Spike drained the mug, sitting it down beside the neat coaster on the coffee table before throwing his duster on over his shirtless torso. He smirked at the rest of the Scoobies as he held the door for Anya and Willow.

"Can't say it's been fun." Spike slammed the door behind him as he swaggered out to catch up with the two girls waiting in the courtyard.

**~Part: 4~**

Willow wasn't all that surprised to find, upon waking, that she had slept the entire morning and afternoon away. The bright blue numbers on her alarm let her know that it was just before seven. The tingles that ran along her fingers and arms made it impossible for her to think that the night before had been a dream.

Pulling her aching body from the bed, Willow sent a silent `thank you' out to Anya. The ex-demon had helped Willow see Spike to the relative safety of his crypt just as the first rays of dawn crept into the cemetery. After that, the other girl had pulled into a drive thru, insisting that Willow get something to eat before she went to bed.

After making sure that Willow had eaten her pancakes and hash brown, Anya had nearly carried the exhausted girl up the stairs and into her room. Willow dimly remembered Anya commenting on the green lace of her underwear and bra, but didn't remember putting on the Tweety bird shirt she found herself wearing.

Willow rubbed her hands against the material of the shirt in an attempt to get the odd feeling running through them to go away. It was as if there were a million tiny insects running all along her hands and up her arms to just below the elbows. There wasn't any pain, just that odd tickling sensation.

I'll ask Giles about it. He's bound to have found *something* by now. I mean, how many purple demons that look like perfectly normal men otherwise could there be? Besides, we're talking about something that could affect me in very bad ways, here, not just seeing the guy.

Certain that the feeling was nothing more than some sort of residual happening from the shock she had felt at the hands of the demon the night before, Willow was unprepared for the sight that greeted her in the bathroom mirror. Her normally shoulder length red hair had been replaced during the night with a mane of hair that curled down her back and around her shoulders. The red was now shot through with pieces of orange and yellow, giving it all the appearance of curling flames licking at her face and body.

"Okay, not what normally happens overnight." Willow took a step closer to the closed bathroom door. "What's going on with my face?"

It looked as though someone had went wild with white powder and glitter as she had slept. Her face was as pale as her vampire counterpart's had been, though her lips had taken on a soft red of their own and her eyes were surrounded by an orange color, both of which matched colors in her new hair. Her cheeks were accented by some sort of dusky blush, though she knew she hadn't applied it, and the entirety of her skin seemed to be covered in a light shimmer. By some trick of the light, or perhaps there was just more of the glittering substance on those areas, her eyes, cheeks, and lips were brought out with much more sparkling than the pale glimmer of the rest of her face.

"Okay. Take a shower and then get to Giles'." Willow pulled off her clothes hurriedly and gasped at what she saw.

Her entire body was glimmering in the light of the bathroom. A soft `V' running along the tops of her breasts and down the valley between was accented in the same way as her lips, though, Willow was thankful to see, there was no accompanying color changes. Willow's arms seemed to be wrapped in bands of the brighter `glitter' that ended at each wrist. Her still tingling hands were shimmering as bright as the rest of her body.

The thing that caught her attention the most, were her fingernails. While normally kept rather short from fighting and the nervous chewing she found herself doing from time to time, they were now rather long. They were much longer than she could remember even Cordelia having hers, with a slight curve to them. To top off the new look, the nails were a deep red with orange and yellow streaked through. The effect was that of tiny flames dancing along each nail.

"Screw the shower." Willow ran into her bedroom and threw on the first shirt she came across, following it with a flowing skirt she managed to snag as she pulled on a pair of sandals. "Got to get to Giles. He'll know what to do."

Willow picked up the book sitting beside her bedroom door that needed to go back to the Watcher's house. She gasped and dropped the book when she saw the older man suddenly in front of her. A moment later, the vision took her over.

{`I have to tell you, Buffy, that this is a bad idea. It has nothing to do with you anymore.' Pulling the glasses from his face, Giles wiped them off with the end of his tie.

`No Giles. This has everything to do with me.'}

"Okay. I have to do something about this dimensional sightseeing before I get caught off guard in public or during a fight." Willow thought for a moment before going to her closet and rummaging through the box that was kept on the shelf.

"Here I thought I was making a stupid impulse buy." Willow had found the long, black evening gloves that she had bought nearly two years before in a fit of female `what ifs'.

Willow didn't even stop to run a brush through the curls of her hair or she would have noticed that she was wearing a faded Sunnydale High T-shirt with a purple and red skirt. In fact, the frightened redhead failed to lock her door or notice that the sun had set as she ran through the graveyard. She didn't stop until she was standing, panting for breath, in the middle of the Watcher's living room, surrounded by the confused and questioning faces of her friends.

"Trying somethin' new with the make-up there, Red?" Spike ran his eyes down her body before returning them to her face. "Gotta say that I, for one, like it."

"I didn't do it, Spike." Willow slid her tongue over her bottom lip before she brought it into her mouth where she worried it with her teeth. "I woke up and it was just there."

"Going for a bit of a Rogue look, Wills?" Xander and Anya had frozen just inside the front door when they caught sight of the girl standing in the center of the living room. "It all works pretty well, but the sandals should really be boots."

"I don't think she's trying to look like some comic book character, Xander." Anya paused and looked expectantly at Willow. "You aren't, are you? Because me and Xander sometimes play that game, and I don't want him thinking about you while he's giving me orgasms."

"Okay, not a visual that I want to have." Buffy visibly shuddered and turned to her best friend. "What gives Will?"

"I don't know, I just woke up and there was this tingly feeling going on in my hands and up and down my arms. I go to take a shower, and find out I'm Glimmer Girl."

"Your face was this way when you woke up?" Giles wrote a few things down on the legal pad he had on the table in front of him. "It could be just some side effect of the demon's touch. There are a few, after all, that will give the person who touches them a mark of some sort on their face."

"What about the rest of me?" Willow hated how small her voice sounded, especially when she saw the way Spike's eyebrow lifted in interest.

"You all sparkly under those clothes, there, Red?" He was leaning forward on the couch now, elbows resting on knees, and Willow could feel him undressing her with those eyes.

"Pr... Pretty much." Willow found a sweet, coppery taste on her tongue and realized that she'd bitten through her lip in her nervousness.

"What else?" Anya was a little too happily interested for Willow's liking, but she could see the concern and interest in the others' eyes.

"Well, there's the hair. `Cuz it had to have grown nearly two feet overnight, and that's just not normal. Not to mention the color, because I'm pretty certain that it was just plain red when I went to bed last night, this morning... whatever, and now it *so* isn't just a normal red color. Would you call this color fire? Because, I'm sensing a definite fire thing going on with it. That's not to mention the glittery chest and armbands, or the fact that my nails are, like, long. I mean *really* long, and they have little flames on them, too. That's why I'm dressed this way. I just had to get over here and see what kind of information you had found on the demon that I drank from, because, let's face it, there can't be all that many demons that look human other than the fact that they're purple."

Giles blinked at the young woman's ability to talk for so long without taking a breath before grasping on to her last sentence. "Actually, there are 72 known demons that look perfectly normal other than their skin tone."

Willow let herself sink down beside Spike on the couch with a small `oh'. She had expected some answers, and was now faced with not knowing what was going to happen to her.

"Don't worry, Willow." Giles' attempt at a brave smile was lost on the oblivious redhead who simply leaned her head over on Spike's shoulder and let him rub her arm comfortingly. "I'm cross- referencing the human appearance with his `speaking' inside your head and the fact that he fed you his blood. That, I believe, narrows the selection down to around ten. It would just help if I had a few more experienced eyes helping me out."

"Anya, are you *sure* you've never met a demon like the one that attacked Willow?"

"Positive, Giles." Anya shook her head sadly. "I like Willow, and I wish I could help, but the only human-looking, different colored demons I ever met weren't nearly as nice as the one in the park was. They were all the `see pretty girl, rape pretty girl, disembowel pretty girl' type."

"And you, Spike?" Giles turned to the vampire.

"Nothing here, mate. I can't remember even *hearing* of a demon like that who didn't enjoy ripping people apart more than he did talkin' to `em."

"You know who we have to call, right?" Willow spoke with her head still resting against the rounded softness of Spike's shoulder.

"The Ghost Busters?"

"No, you git." Spike didn't even try to keep the contempt from his voice. "She's talking about the bloody Pouf."

"Do we gotta?" Xander's whine made Willow giggle slightly.

"This is none of his business, Giles." Willow could tell Buffy wasn't happy.

"It would be nice to have Wesley looking from that end as well." Giles heaved a great sigh before standing and moving toward the kitchen.

"I *still* don't like it." The small blonde had crossed her arms over her chest and was sulking in the chair across from the pair on the couch.

"It really doesn't matter what you do or do not like, Buffy. We're talking about Willow, here. You should put aside everything until we're quite certain of her safety."

"I'm going on patrol." Buffy stood and headed for the door before turning to look at Spike. "You coming, Neutered Boy?"

"I have to go, pet." Spike tucked a curl behind Willow's ear before grinning evilly. "Someone's got to make sure the bint doesn't slay her own foot."

Willow nodded, and the two blondes were gone a moment later.

"I'll make the call," and Giles turned to the phone to do just that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **This part is dedicated to Satanslut. It was nice to know that someone remembered me after so long.

Giles walked back into the living room while he waited for someone to answer the ringing phone. Holding the phone between the side of his head and his shoulder, he moved to the bookshelf and pulled down the nearly full crystal container that sat there. Giles poured a slightly more than healthy amount into a matching crystal glass.

"Angel, this is Giles." Giles, obviously talking to the vampire's answering machine, pushed the glass of amber liquid into Willow's hand. "There is a situation concerning Willow that we could use your, or perhaps Wesley's, help looking into. If you could call me back as soon as possible, it would be appreciated."

Giles put the phone back on its cradle before motioning to the glass Willow had begun sipping from, grimacing after each taste. "Something wrong with the scotch?"

"I'm not a big drinker, Giles. Bad experience with beer, remember?"

"Yes, well, I would hardly call that American swill beer, but I suppose I understand your aversion to alcohol." Giles put three large, leather bound books in a pile on the floor beside the table and opened a fourth one to a place he had marked with a slip of paper.

"There will be pizza in a few minutes, and there will be no more scotch. It's not my intention to get you pissed, simply to relax enough to be able to help with the research we have in front of us."

"Thanks Giles." Willow sunk back into the couch and cradled the tumbler in still tingling fingers. "Did I mention that my hands and arms are all tingly?"

"`Tingly'?" Giles looked up from his book with wide, interested eyes.

"Yeah, almost like when you're foot is doing that weird not- quite-asleep thing."

"Oh, I *hate* that!" Xander shuddered in his seat beside, and nearly under, Anya. "You mean you're all numb and prickly?"

"Something like that, only not so much with the numb." Willow took the last of the scotch in a gulp, this time smiling as it made its pleasant trail down her throat. "Here. Let me show you what they look like."

She stood and moved to the table Giles was sitting at. It took her a minute to pull the unfamiliar gloves from her long fingers, drawing gasps from the other occupants of the room when her arms and hands came into view.

"And they were like this when you woke up?" Giles turned his head to take in every detail of her new coloring.

"Yeah." Willow pulled the glove hurriedly back over her hand and arm when the doorbell sounded, alerting them that the pizza had arrived. "I caught sight of my face and the rest of my body, freaked out, and came over here as fast as I could."

Xander had paid for the pizza and was now carrying it through to sit it on the table. "So you're kind of shimmery all over?"

"Well, yeah." Willow could have sworn they had covered this already, but she kept herself from rolling her eyes at her best friend. "I've got different places that seem to be darker with it than others, like my arms and a place on my chest, but it's pretty much an all-over motif by now."

"Why aren't you purple?" Xander had taken an entire pizza, setting it on the small table in front of the chair he and Anya were occupying. "You know, since the guy who grabbed you was pretty much a California Raisin?"

"I don't know!" Willow fought the burning prickle behind her eyes. "All I know is that I'm not looking too Willowy at the moment, and that I feel all weird." The shrill ring of the phone interrupted the babble she felt coming to the surface, and she silently sent thanks that it rang when it did.

She had been wondering since the night before if she should be waiting for some sort of evil to take over her body, crowding her out and leaving nothing but the shell of what she once was. Would her soul fade slowly, or would it wink out like a blown lightbulb? Would the soul restoration she used on Angel work on her if her soul did fly away, or would Buffy and Spike be forced to hunt her down and kill her? Was she going to be some sort of sacrifice, and the glittery show was all to make her more yummy and tender?

Over the last few hours she'd been contemplating the new look she had unwillingly acquired, and found herself rather liking most of the changes. The glittering would make blending in around town hard, but her hair and face were lovely and ethereal, if a little too pale for her liking. _If I cut the nails, they shouldn't be *too* bad. That is, if we can't find some way to fix me and put me back to the way I was._

{`You're so pathetic, Willow.' Buffy paced the floor in front of the couch on which Willow sat. `I can't believe you went behind my back and took them away from me. You're such a slut!'

`It wasn't like that!' The vision Willow shook her head furiously. `I'm not with them both. Angel and I are only friends, and he's trying to help me figure out what's happened, is still happening, to me.'

`God, I'm sick of hearing about you you you all the time!'

`Now you know how the rest of us have felt since we met you, Slayer.' Spike, wearing his demon's face and not wearing a shirt, came down the long staircase.}

The vision left as quickly as it had come on, leaving Willow with a slightly dazed feeling. It obviously reflected on her face, as Xander and Anya were both looking at her in open concern and Giles was speaking to her softly.

"Angel wants to talk to you." He motioned to the phone that must have rung during her little trip, and she took it without really thinking.

"Hello Angel."

"Giles said something about a demon and blood. He seemed to think you were doing okay, but I told him that I wanted to hear that from you personally. If you want me to come up there to be another shoulder for you to lean on until we figure out what's going on, I will. I'd say that you could come here, you're more than welcome to if you want, but the more familiar people and places you have around, the better. So, be honest with me. Are you okay?"

Willow couldn't help the laughter bubbling up inside of her chest, despite Angel's open worrying. "You're babbling, Angel. I didn't know you knew how to talk like that all at once."

"Well, I learned it from you." There was a soft chuckle from his end of the phone before his voice became laced with worry again. "Are you in any kind of pain? Is there anything I can do while we try to figure out who, and what, the hell that purple bastard was? Say the word and it's done."

"I'm all tingly, which I'm sure Giles told you, but I feel fine other than that. A little giddy, but I think that was more from the scotch he gave me a while ago than anything else." Willow heard Buffy's muffled `what the fuck' from behind her, but ignored it to concentrate on the conversation she was having with the dark vampire.

"Eat something."

"I plan on it. Just got a little sidetracked for a minute. I'm fine though, really."

"You won't be `fine' until we at least know that something bad isn't happening to you. Giles gave Wesley all the details, so he's already hitting the books with Cordelia and Fred. I'm going to go see if I can find anything out from the locals. You call if you need *anything*, okay?"

"Okay Angel." Willow knew he could hear the smile in her voice even if he couldn't see her face. "Be careful. I don't want you getting hurt over something as little as this."

"You're worth getting hurt over, Willow. I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye." Willow hung up the phone and pulled three slices of the pepperoni pizza onto a paper plate before facing a glaring Spike. "What's wrong? No demons out to kick around?"

"Oh, one or two. What did the Gelled Wonder want?" The scowl hadn't left his face, and Willow fought the urge to tell him it would get stuck that way if he didn't stop.

"And what were *you* doing, giving the girl scotch?" Spike had rounded on Giles, leveling those ice blue eyes on the Watcher.

"Giles was just trying to shock my system into relaxing a little. Angel was just making sure that I'm all right. It's all no big deal, really."

"Yeah, that used to be one of his best lines to hook a chit."

"Spike, he's not trying to `hook' anybody." Willow knew he was baiting her, but it was just too fun to watch him get all worked up over his sire. "We're already friends. He doesn't have to even try any lines on me."

"Aren't we friends, pet?" Spike frowned and looked at her from under lowered lashes.

"You know we are. Spike, just because I'm friends with one of you doesn't mean that I can't be friends with the other." Willow finished off her first slice of pizza and retrieved one of the cans of soda Xander had set on the table. "He just wanted to make sure I'm not in pain or anything."

"Bet you played that one up for all it was worth." Buffy had helped herself to a slice of pizza and one of the remaining chairs. She looked around at the other occupants of the room before speaking again.

"If you want to call and flirt around with Angel, just say so." Buffy stood a brushed off her short skirt. "Let's hit the Bronze."

"In case you couldn't tell, which I'm sure you could since I don't think that anyone, not even you, could be that stupid, we're researching." Anya held up the can of soda she held loosely in her left hand while she read as if to illustrate her point. "We're trying to find out what's wrong with Willow."

"Yeah, Buff." Xander's confused voice let Willow know that her oldest friend was giving the small blonde more attention than he usually gave anything. "We made it into a research party, just like it used to be. Don't you want to help?"

"Nothing's like it used to be, Xander." Buffy retrieved her coat from the table just inside the door before turning to face Spike for the first time. "Well?"

"You don't need me, Slayer." Spike picked up one of the books from the table and settled himself beside Willow. "Said so yourself."

"Whatever."

The near slam of the front door made the four humans jump slightly. Spike just smirked and gave a soft sort of chuckle.

"Bitch." Anya openly agreed with the blonde vampire's sentiment, but no one disagreed as they all got down to the business of a good research session.

**~Part: 6~**

Three o'clock in the morning found the group of researchers still scattered around the Watcher's living room. Xander was keeping himself awake through the cunning use of caffeine and Twinkies as Anya fought back yawns and drank steadily increasing amounts of tea. Giles and Willow, both accustomed to late hours, were the only fully awake humans keeping Spike company.

The blonde vampire, having moved only to feed or retrieve another book Giles thought may be useful, was still seated next to the redheaded witch. From time to time Willow would, in a fit of melancholy, sigh. Spike's hand would begin brushing over her hair, fingers combing through her curls, until the bout of sadness passed. It didn't occur to her to wonder how he knew she felt better, but she wasn't going to protest the comforting caresses.

"Giles," Anya set her teacup, empty once again, on the table besides a pile of Xander's empty Twinkie wrappers. "If I'm going to open the store tomorrow, I'm going to need sleep. If you don't want me to make money, then I can stay and help. Which one is it going to be?"

"What was that?" Giles glanced at his watch before confirming the time by the clock on the wall. "Oh, yes, sleep."

He surveyed the weary group. "You've all done more than I expected to get through tonight. I'll clean up here. You should all go home and get some sleep."

"If it's okay," Willow gazed at the older man with something close to terror in her eyes. "I'd really like to just stay here and keep researching."

Willow knew everyone was looking at her. In spite of that, or perhaps because of it, she couldn't stop the tears from welling up in the corners of her eyes. "The last time I went to sleep, I ended up with a head-to-toe make over. I don't know *what* will happen when I go to sleep again."

"Willow, it will do no good to tire yourself overmuch." Giles was busily filling an empty grocery bag with the trash they had accumulated during the researching. "The current situation, as well as your condition, are stressful enough without forcing yourself to stay awake."

"Much as I hate to admit it, I have to say that I agree with the Watcher on this one." Spike pulled Willow up to lean her tired body against his. "How about I take you home and tuck you in safe as houses?"

"Me and Anya can drop the two of you off on our way," Xander pulled on his jacket and helped Anya with hers.

"Sounds like a plan. You in, luv?" Spike noticed that Willow didn't have a coat with her, so he threw his around her shoulders.

Willow smiled at the unlikely friends. "Sure. I'm too tired to deal with any unfriendly nasties that we would probably run into, anyway."

The group said their goodbyes to Giles and headed out. Willow and Spike folded themselves into the back seat of Xander's car. Xander and Anya piled into the front.

Willow had just turned to look out at the growing sliver of moon when that tingle rippled its way up her spine. On a whim, Willow tried picturing a cool breeze that blew through her mind, pushing the feeling out and back down her body. She was happily surprised when it worked, grinning openly for the split second before her control slipped.

When she stopped thinking of the cool breeze, the redhead's small body was engulfed in a heat that seemed to burn from her bones outward. Faces, some familiar and some not, flashed through her mind too quickly for her to grasp. A moment later, she got a flash of Buffy hitting Spike repeatedly. Then things switched to her and Buffy in two of the most hideous dresses she'd ever seen. Picture after picture, scene after scene, began slamming into her mind's eye, making them mostly unintelligible and always painful.

Just when Willow thought her mind was going to melt from the quickly shifting pictures playing themselves on the inside of her eyelids, she felt her body being shifted into strong arms.

"Chit was more tired than she realized." Spike carried her through the door Xander opened, thanking the younger man before shutting it with his foot and carrying Willow up to her room. "Well, you're home. I'll let you sleep."

Willow heard Spike turn, knocking into the bedside table, and forced her eyes open. "Thank you, Spike."

"It's not a problem Red. Go to sleep."

Her eyes were closing even as she tried to protest him leaving without his trademark duster. "Your coat-"

"Can stay with you until tomorrow." Spike tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Just don't do anything too girly in it. Got a reputation to uphold, you know."

"Buffy?"

"She's sleeping, Willow. I can smell her."

"That's nice," Willow sighed dreamily. "Night Spike."

"Night Red." Spike chuckled at her near-sleep talking and let himself out of the Summers' house after peeking in to make sure that Dawn was sleeping.

Willow forced herself to get out of bed the next morning, even though 10:00 felt more like 6:00 after the night she'd had. The worn leather of the duster still surrounded her as she lay, fully clothed, on top of her neatly made bed.

_Ugh. I *really* need a shower._ She let the coat drop across the foot of her bed before shedding the rest of her ill- matching outfit and heading toward the bathroom. A look in the mirror let her know that nothing else had changed in the time she had been asleep, and she hurried through cleansing herself of the last few days' worth of grime and general ickiness.

Just as she finished rinsing the conditioner from her hair, Willow gasped as a naked Spike appeared out of nowhere in front of her. It took a moment for her to realize that it was the beginning of another vision, and she wondered at the sigh of disappointment that left her.

{Spike leaned over and began crawling his way up his bed, covering a disinterested Buffy with his body once he had reached her head.

`This can't happen again, Spike.'

`That's what you always say, Slayer. And yet, here you are.'

`I mean it this time.' Buffy pushed the vampire off of her and began hurriedly dressing, a look of loathing twisting her face. `I can't just keep sleeping with you. You're not worth my time, and especially not my body.'

`Better watch what you say, Slayer, or I might start taking it seriously.'

`I *am* serious, you undead idiot. I hate you.'

`See you tonight then?' The cocky grin that he wore slipped from his face as Buffy spit at him.

`You're beneath me.'}

Willow gasped again as the vision left her nearly drained, crying on the floor of the tub. Acrid bile was trying to force its way up her throat, and she just managed to throw open the lid of the toilet before she was revisited by the last of the late night pizza. Sitting back on the cold tile of the bathroom floor, water dripping from her body and splashing into the growing puddle around her nude body, Willow fought back sobs.

_Okay. I can't take this anymore._ Willow turned the shower off before standing and wrapping a towel around her hair and another around her body. _I love the two of them far too much to see other dimension glimpses of them like that. Buffy isn't like that, and Spike would *never* look at her that way. That mix of desperation and longing shouldn't be allowed to occupy his face._

It didn't even occur to Willow that she'd just told herself that she loved Spike. She was already throwing on a bra and a pair of panties before her internal monolog was finished. The sky outside her window was a thick slate of deep grey, and sheets of rain pelted the ground, so she threw on a black sweater and a pair of black, zippered leggings. Without thinking, she pulled Spike's duster over her arms before ducking out into the cold rain.

The walk to the Magic Box seemed to go much more quickly than it usually did, though Willow suspected that her worrying and repulsion over what she had seen had more to do with that than her speed. She walked through the store, barely able to return Anya's smile and greeting, to find Giles sitting in the training room, sharpening a small ax. The man's surprise at finding her in the store in the middle of the day was clearly visible before he was able to school his features into a look of pure concern.

"Willow? Is there something wrong? Are you feeling well?"

"It's a little complicated... I think."

"How's that?" Giles put down the ax and led the witch into the store. "Would you like to have a nice cup of tea and tell me about it?"

Willow glanced over at Anya, deciding that she didn't care if the ex demon heard what she had to say. After Giles found out, there would most likely be another research aspect to work through, so everyone would know that her mind was dimension hopping without her permission. What difference did it make if one of them found out before the others?

"That would be great, Giles. Thank you." Willow busied herself with removing the wet leather coat while Giles went to put on a kettle of water. When he returned, telling her that it would be a few minutes, she decided that she may as well start with the explanations.

"Giles. There's something I left out about the demon's affect on me."

"I do hope it's nothing serious. Willow, you *know* how important any information could be to finding a cure for you." Giles pulled the glasses from his face and began wiping them with the bottom of his tie.

"I know." Willow tried to smile at Anya, who'd come over to join them when the last customer had been sent on his way with a fake smile and `have a good day'. "I just didn't know how to say this, or what anyone would say about it.

"At first, it only happened when I touched a person or something they had touched. That was the real reason for the gloves. I thought, if I didn't touch anything, then it wouldn't happen, but now it's gotten so that it just happens whenever it wants to and I can't stop it from happening. Well, I tried to stop it once, and it worked, but then a lot of things slammed into my brain all at the same time and I almost passed out. I'm just happy that everyone thought I was sleeping, and that Spike and Xander were there to carry me inside my house, and that I wasn't off somewhere alone or something. I don't even want to know *what* could have happened to me if I were fighting or running and it happened. That's kind of scary, now that I really think about it. I mean-"

"Willow." Giles motioned for Anya to remove the now whistling pot from the stove as he interrupted Willow's rambling.

"What's going on?" Anya had made it back in record time, making Willow suspect that she had turned the stove off and pushed the teakettle to a different burner rather than prepare any tea.

"I think I'm seeing other dimensions."

"How so?" Giles had that look on his face he only got when they were deep into research. "What makes you think it's alternate dimensions?"

"Well, the first one I got was of Anya being robbed while she was working." Anya drew herself up straighter in her seat, and Willow was quick to point out that it *had* to be a different dimension. "There's just no way Anya would willingly part with money from her till."

"Okay, that was the first one." Giles, Willow could tell, was already going through his mental lists of demons, discarding those who had no visionary abilities. "While that could actually happen in any dimension, I suppose, it *does* sound a little hard to believe. What else has happened to make you think they're different dimensions and not something else?"

"It can't be my imagination, Giles." Willow distantly heard the bell over the door chime, signaling that someone had entered the store. "I mean, Spike and Buffy sleeping together? That's just *wrong*, especially after what she went through with Angel."

"It's nothing like what I had with Angel!"

Willow's still wet hair stung her face as she whipped her head around to face a flushed and angry looking Buffy. "You mean, those things I've been seeing about you and Spike are *real*? You've been sleeping with Spike?"

"Its just sex. Something to get our minds off of things." Buffy pulled her coat off and tossed it over one of the chairs. "It's not like I love the Fangless Wonder, or anything."

Giles and Anya, long forgotten, were looking back and forth between the sneering Slayer and the now standing witch. Buffy was standing with her hands on her hips, as if waiting for a fight, and Willow simply looked ready to cry. Very faintly, Anya thought she smelled something burning.

"The things I've seen tell me that it isn't the same on Spike's end of things, Buffy." Willow's long curls began fluttering as if in a soft breeze, though no one else in the room felt anything.

"I know." Buffy tossed her sunny hair over her shoulder. "I want the bastard to love me. What better way to punish him?"

"Punish him? For what?" The scent of burning copper surrounded the redhead, forcing Buffy to take a step back even as tiny sparks began appearing along and over the mass of curls that made up Willow's hair. "What does he have to suffer for?"

"He's an evil, soulless demon. Why shouldn't I use him for whatever I want?"

"What is *wrong* with you!" Willow pulled Spike's long coat back on, ignoring the sudden warmth of the store. "I can't believe that you would even *say* that."

"It's true, isn't it?" Buffy lifted her eyebrows and sneered openly. "I'm the Slayer. I'm better than he is. Why shouldn't I do whatever I want?"

"That's horrible, Buffy, really horrible." Willow was disappointed in the smaller girl, now knowing that she really *was* just using the caring, if evil, vampire to vent on. "I'm not staying in that house any more. I can't."

"Whatever." Buffy flopped down on the couch, ignoring the hurt look marring Willow's face. "You'll get tired of being alone and come back in a day or two anyway."

Willow shook her head and felt her stomach rolling as she backed toward the door. "Giles, could you look into that for me? I really don't want to see any more than I already have. I'll be at my parent's house if you need me."

Willow turned to open the door, surprised when she found herself already standing outside the small magic shop. _Okay. I don't remember opening the door and walking out here. _

Shaking off the strange feeling she was getting, the redhead made her way to the cemetery. If she couldn't talk some sense into Buffy, maybe she could tell Spike the truth about the Slayer's feelings. No one deserved to be used like that, demon or not.

The rain still beating down had soaked through the heavy leather of Spike's coat, by the time she reached the old cemetery Spike had claimed a home in. The ground gave way easily under her feet, and she was happy that she wasn't fond of the old tennis shoes she'd thrown on before leaving. The squelching of the sneakers as she approached the dark crypt seemed to whisper `tell... him' with every step.

_Okay, Rosenburg, he's got to know, and you're the one who found out about it all. Just knock, go in, tell him what you know, and leave. Easy. _

Willow stood outside the door to the small building for another five minutes before lifting her hand and knocking.

When no one answered, Willow pushed the heavy door open. "Spike? Are you in here?"

"Here, pet." Spike's voice echoed up from the hole in the floor. "Didn't know who it was, and didn't fancy talking to the Slayer right now."

"W... Well, t-that's what, or who, I wanted to talk to you ab-about. Ah, Spike? Could... could y-you put on a, ah, a shirt? Please?" Willow put a hand over her eyes and turned to face the barren wall instead of the half dressed vampire who'd just climbed out of the lower room.

"Protecting your innocent eyes?" Willow could **hear** the smirk in his voice even as a long arm reached past her and snatched a t-shirt from the arm of the chair she stood beside.

"I just need to talk to you, and it's hard enough without getting distracted."

"You saying I'm distracting?" A low chuckle rumbled through the crypt. "You can turn around, luv. It's safe."

"Spike, you already know how... distracting you are." Willow handed the heavy coat back to the blonde vampire, who casually slung it over the sarcophagus before pulling a battered pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

"What brings a pretty bird like you to a cemetery to talk to my undead ass in the middle of the morning?"

"I've... There's something about the demon that I didn't tell you. Well, I didn't tell anyone. At first, it was just a thing that happened when I touched something or someone, then when I thought about them. Now, it just happens. I didn't even know it was real, I thought it had to be some other dimension because the things I was seeing just didn't make sense, but I found out today that it isn't like that, that it's really the future, and I needed to tell you that what you're doing with Buffy isn't good."

Spike's face changed from its normal smirking arrogance to completely void of all emotion. The cigarette hung, forgotten, from his slightly parted lips. "What's that, luv?"

"I'm getting visions of the future, Spike." Willow turned burning eyes to the floor. "I thought they were flashes of other dimensions and went to talk to Giles about it. Buffy heard the end of the conversation and ended up trying to defend herself to us."

"So everyone knows about it, then."

"Well, just Giles and Anya right now, but you know Anya and not knowing what not to say to people."

"Good." Spike had recovered with a slight shake of his head and moved to slouch down into the single chair in the room. "I was tired of keepin' it a bloody secret anyway."

"Spike." Willow turned to face him now, knowing that she had to look him in the eye when she told him this last part. "Buffy doesn't love you. She's just using you for the sex."

"Nah, she loves me in a way."

"No, she doesn't, Spike. She **told** me that she's using you, that she wants to punish you."

"Don't know what you're getting all worked up about, pet. She needs me to vent on, which is a lot more than what I've been needed for in a long time. I need her because I can cause her pain. Besides, the sex isn't bad either."

"Spike!" Willow gave in to the tears, letting them flow freely as she nearly sobbed at the vampire in front of her. "You deserve more than that!"

"Don't cry, Red." Spike stood, moving to wrap his arms around the nearly doubled over witch.

Willow jerked her arms up, dislodging his hold on her, and stepped away from his offered comfort. "Don't. Just don't."

"Willow, it's really none of your business who I'm shagging, or why they're shagging me."

"It is my business!" Willow was openly sobbing as she forced herself to walk to the door. "It's my business because you're one of my best friends, because you've always been honest with me, and because you've helped me."

_Goddess, I wish I was home._ Before the thought was even finished, Willow found herself standing in the living room of the house she'd called home for the last year. _How did... Never mind, Willow. Figure it out later. Pack now. _

Willow threw herself up the stairs, nearly missing her footing several times as she climbed to her room. Pulling the suitcases down from the shelf in her closet, she began throwing her clothes into them as fast as she could. When it became apparent that there wouldn't be enough room for everything, she retrieved some garbage bags from the kitchen and stuffed as much as she could into them as well. By the time the sniffling redhead finished her marathon throwing and shoving, open drawers and empty hangers were all that were left to keep the stripped bed company.

_I'm going to need a taxi or something. There's no way I can carry all these bags *and* my magic trunk on top of the suitcases._ Willow thought for a moment before smiling to herself and giggling. _Give it a shot, Willow._

Pulling herself up to her full height, Willow began pointing at each of the bags in turn, giggling when they all shrank to roughly the size of a quarter. The suitcases followed suit easily enough. In the end, Willow was able to scoop them all up and deposit them in the pocket of the coat she'd pulled out to protect her from the still falling rain.

_Just like Marry Poppins_. For the first time that day, a small smile found itself on the lips of the pretty redhead as she made her way back down the stairs and out the front door.

Willow hesitated for only a second when she reached the end of the front walk. Setting her shoulders, she made a left and quickly reached Xander's old house. After that, she simply made use of the alleyways and shortcuts she and her childhood friend had memorized all those years ago.

Willow shook her head and gave a derisive snort. _At least they left everything hooked up and turned on._

Willow unlatched and opened every door and window in the house, smiling at the dreary sky that seemed to match her mood. It was no longer raining, though a steady breeze was tossing the trees, and the air now wafting through the house carried a tang of spring. With a little magic, Willow simply let the dust that had gathered over the house leave on the air.

Unpacking was similarly easy, and the redhead found herself settled into her old room just as her stomach let her know that she had now missed both breakfast and lunch. With the refrigerator running, but empty, there was nothing she could do but go to the store. With a sigh, she retrieved the car keys from the locked drawer in her parents' old room and headed for the tasteful, if seldom used, sedan sitting in the garage.

Picking up the essentials, Willow was struck by inspiration just as she was heading for the checkout line. If she had Giles and Wesley both working on finding anything that had to do with this demon, then there was nothing more she could really do on that level. So, maybe she could find a way to keep herself from seeing things that she didn't want to. That meant using magic or a lot of energy. Either way, she was sure to get major cases of munchies. Magic is hungry work.

Turning her cart, Willow walked the isles of the store with a little more bounce in her step. Now that she had a plan, as sketchy as it may be, she felt a little better about things. Spike knew he was being used and seemed to want whatever it was Buffy gave him, so there was nothing she could do. What was happening to her, however, just took research and good, old fashioned hard work. Willow put some Breyer's coffee ice cream into the basket and smiled.

She wasn't called research girl for nothing.


	5. Chapter 5

Within an hour, Willow was home and had nearly all her groceries put away when the doorbell rang.

"Who's there?" Willow crumpled up the plastic bags from the store and shoved them into the bag hanging on the inside of the cabinet door.

"Willow?" Anya's voice carried easily through the screen door. "I came over to help."

"Help?" Willow unlatched the door and let the ex-demon in. "With what?"

"Well, I thought that you would be trying to figure out how to control this whole vision thing now that you know that is isn't some other dimension."

"Yeah, that's pretty much my plan." The two girls moved into the kitchen, moving to put the cans of food Willow had bought into the cabinet beside the stove. "I just wish I could figure out when things are going to happen, at least that would be useful."

"Well, I did get robbed today."

"What?" Willow spun so quickly that Anya got a mouthful of coppery hair. "When?"

"A little after you left. Two guys came in and took my money," Anya pouted while she spoke. "One of them tipped over that shelf of crystals when he left, and that brought Giles and Buffy out from the training room. She chased them down and took the money back."

"Well, that's good then."

"Yeah, but I still think she's being a major bitch."

"She's going through some things right now." Willow shoved the last of the bags into their holder and handed Anya a can of Pepsi before leading her out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room. "Once she gets everything in her head straight, she'll get better."

"She wasn't that great to begin with." Anya was grumbling, and Willow was fairly certain that she wasn't supposed to hear that, so the redheaded witch tried to hide her grin while she moved to her computer chair.

"I tried a visualization thing the other night when you and Xan drove me home. It did okay until I stopped the gentle wind thing, then there was just too much all at once. My brain couldn't handle it all."

"Hmmm..." Anya took a sip from her can as she slowly took in the room. "Magic?"

"What?" Willow looked at Anya, who gestured to the tidy closet where her suitcases were stored on a shelf. "Oh, yeah. It just makes things so much easier."

"Yes, it does. I never would have been able to turn my cheating husband into a troll without it." Both girls broke into a fit of giggles as Anya moved to look over the books on the shelves.

"Maybe you should try to bring on a vision. That way, maybe you can control who you see, and how far. I don't know if that will keep the others from happening, though."

"I've been thinking about that. Maybe if I teach my mind that it needs to be prepared, it'll cut down on the unwanted stuff?"

"A training session for your brain?"

"More like grounding and centering and casting a circle. You know, learned things that get you in the right frame of consciousness."

"Oh," Anya grinned. "Like studying for a test."

"Exactly."

"Maybe you should do that grounding thing first. That should let your mind and body recognize that it's going to do something that it usually doesn't."

"Good thinking." Willow had shifted to sit Indian style in the chair facing Anya who now sat on the bed. "I know, but thank you for saying it."

Willow shook her head and smiled as she scribbled notes on a sheet of paper, listing what they were coming up with.

"I should make it into a ritual. Ground and center, then ask for protection and clarity. That should help keep out pain, and keep my mind from wandering when I'm trying to focus on one person or thing."

"Then you only have to worry about the whole time thing." Anya tapped the tips of her fingers against the book she held on her lap. "When did you see me get robbed?"

"That night with the demon. The night before last, I guess."

"Then I'm thinking that it's a short future thing. Maybe you're only seeing one or two days in advance."

"That makes sense except for the faces that I saw last night that I didn't recognize."

"Maybe it was just an overload of information from all over. Just because you're vision girl and know the slayer doesn't mean that all the visions you have are going to deal with only people you know."

"I never thought about that." Willow felt pain blossoming from behind her right eye. "This whole thing is just one big headache."

"Let's try it now, then go find something to eat."

"Good idea. I haven't eaten all day." Willow rubbed at her abdomen absently. "I think I'm beyond needing the candles to mark the points, but I'm going to burn some sage to help with the ritual."

"Need me to do anything?" Anya nearly bounced on the bed in her enthusiasm, and Willow found herself nodding.

"Sure. I'm going to use loose sage, so you could sprinkle some on the charcoal round to keep a steady burn." Willow set out the ceramic holder and the charcoal, handing the sage and matches to the older girl. "Well, you could also help me figure out what I should try to see."

"I know!" Anya had the charcoal burning, the top just starting to turn red. "Try to see if Xander's going to get the raise he's asking for this afternoon. That way we'll know in a few hours if it worked."

"You just want to know if you're going to be doing any celebrating tonight."

"That too." Anya winked and began sprinkling the dried leaves onto the glowing coal. "Let's do this."

"Yes ma'am."

Willow stood in the center of the floor, smelling the soft, calming scent of the smoldering herbs and visualizing a silver rod running down her back. Growing more at ease with her picture, the witch sent the bar through the levels of the house, then through the cement of the basement, until it was embedded in the earth below. Breathing slowly, she let the silver line grow until her entire body was made up of nothing but the silver stick.

Another deep breath sent the bar deeper into the ground as well as up through the top of her head. Roots slid into the earth, pulling power from the Goddess' body. Branches reached out from above her head, releasing the energy back out into the world. Willow could see that the tree she was above the ground was mirrored in the trunk and roots below, branches and roots nearly meeting in an eternal flow or energy.

"Earth, Air, Fire, Sea, let the Goddess' hand be a guide to me. Without malice and without pain, let me see what Xander shall gain."

{"So, Harris, you wanted to talk to me?" An older man was sitting behind the desk in a small trailer.

"Yes sir." Xander pulled the hard hat from his head and took the offered chair. "It's about the job."

"You're not leaving, are you? `Cuz I've gotta say that you're one of the best carpenters I've seen in a long time."

"That's just it, sir." Xander rubbed his palms down his thighs roughly.

"What's `it'?"

"Well, you said yourself that I'm one of the best." At the larger man's nod, Xander nodded and took a deep breath. "I just think that I should be getting paid more than I am."

"Because you've been in charge of a lot of things that the others will never come close to, and catch on to anything I'm trying to lay out quicker than most, you think you should get a promotion."

It wasn't a question, but Xander nodded his head anyway. "That's it exactly, sir."

"Well, Harris." The older man poured himself a cup of steaming coffee and grinned at the nervous brunet. "I was wondering when you were going to get the balls to ask me."

"Really?"

"Of course! How does fifteen an hour sound?"

"Fifteen?"

"Take a few classes some nights and on the weekends, and we'll talk higher."}

Willow let her mind drift away from what she was seeing and opened her eyes to see Anya still kneeling beside the table. Letting all the energy seep back down into the earth, Willow let the silver tree slide back into the thin rod before disappearing altogether. As she let the last of the borrowed energy go, the witch realized that she felt lighter and happier than she had in a long time.

"Thank you, Mother, for protecting and guiding me. Your daughter thanks you." Willow smiled as she faced Anya. "I think I should have been having regular rituals a long time ago. I feel great!

"I also think you're going to be having a whole lot of celebrating to do when Xander gets home."

The other girl squealed happily, and wrapped a surprised Willow in a tight hug. "Let's go eat! I've got to get my energy up if I'm going to give Xander as many orgasms as I plan on."

"Maybe he should be the one building up his energy."

"You know it!" The laughter of the two young women echoed through the house.

"All right, young lady. You've missed more than enough school. I don't care if you *are* still sparkly. You're going, and that's final." Willow's reflection gave her the `resolve face', and the redhead knew she was beat.

Since performing the spell with Anya on Monday afternoon, and finding herself to be completely accurate, Willow had done the same ritual twice a day. Twice, she had tried not doing it in the afternoon, but both trials had led to painful bouts as vision girl. Willow had decided that doing `two a day's, as Xander called them, left her feeling as close to normal as she suspected she was going to get. She had thought about going for three, but took Giles' advice not to push herself too hard.

"Just because you've been this way for a week now doesn't mean you'll *always* be sparkle-vision girl. You've got to have something to fall back on." Willow glanced at her clock, confirming that she would have to leave soon to make it to her first class on time. "You're wearing long sleeves and pants. No one is going to say anything."

Willow gathered her books and the keys to the car. _Not like I don't have my license or aren't on the insurance. Besides, it's Friday and I'll have to find people in my other classes to get notes from. _

Willow had been living in her old house for five days now. With the notable exception of Buffy, everyone seemed comfortable doing research and hanging out there. There was more room in Willow's living room than in the entirety of Giles' apartment, after all.

Spike had come hammering on her front door just after sunset on Monday. It had taken a few minutes for the vampire to stop yelling at the witch, even after she had pulled him off the front porch and into her living room. It was pretty obvious to the intelligent girl that the blonde had been afraid when she'd just disappeared after she started crying, and she had told him so.

"Just don't want you leaving like that is all."

"It's okay, Spike." Willow had grinned and offered him a drink, laughing when he said that it would just give him a headache. "Let's just agree to disagree on the whole Buffy issue and never speak of it again."

"It's a deal, pet."

Shortly after Spike made his appearance, the rest of the gang had arrived. Giles had dragged in a large stack of books along with two bottles of white wine as house re-warming gifts. There had been enough for everyone to have a decent sized glass, and Willow giggled at using her parents' cherished good crystal to toast a long life to everyone present as well as Xander's new income.

Willow nodded along as Nora Jones sang a soft blues song on the radio. _Now, if I can just get through the day, I'll be okay. Well, through the rest of the month. After that, I'm free for the rest of the spring and summer._

Willow dropped the mountain of books onto the kitchen counter and let her messenger bag slip to the floor. She had forgotten all about the required reading until Tanya, the strange girl from her Women in Literature class whose notes she had copied on the library's Xerox machine, reminded her of the paper due the following Friday. Luckily, the library had been able to lend her most of the books she needed. The rest she had found in the used book stores that dotted the area surrounding the campus.

"Long day, pet?"

Willow, startled, didn't register the husky accent or the casual endearment until she had already acted to defend herself. She was, therefore, more than a little surprised to see that the man she was holding captive against the ceiling was Spike. She opened her mouth to apologize as she slowly lowered his bruised and bleeding, not to mention slightly smoking, form to the floor.

_Wait. Bruised? *Bleeding*? I didn't do that. But, if I didn't, then who did? And how did he get here?_

Willow stood staring at the vampire. Ordering her thoughts, the witch was finally able to give voice to her confusion. "Huh?"

"Yeah." Spike nodded his head like an exhausted toddler. The vampire tried to push himself off the floor, only to fall onto his back with a barely muffled cry.

"Spike!" Willow wasn't aware that she had moved until her hands were pushing blood matted hair from the vampire's eyes. "Oh, Goddess, you look bad."

"I... I've had... had worse."

The usual cockney accent was gone, replaced by a softer lilt, and Willow found herself smiling until she realized a few things that she would classify as `of the bad'. First, Spike's faded shirt and jeans had much darker patches that were steadily growing in size. Second, the blonde was gasping for breath that he didn't need. The next thing to draw her attention was the swiftly loosening grip on her hand.

"Spike, stay awake." Willow moved to shake his shoulder, drawing a slick, red hand back when he didn't respond.

Only then did she begin to feel the wet carpet under her knees. Willow looked down and saw the red puddle form around her hand as if in slow motion. Then the smell of the blood hit her, and the girl threw herself away from the pale, still body lying on the carpet of her dining room.

"Blood." Willow didn't know if she was commenting on the growing stain on her floor, or thinking of the only thing she knew of that would save Spike.

A rattling gasp brought the now weeping girl back to the vampire's side.

"Wa... wanted... T-Thank... you." A thin line of blood bubbled from Spike's mouth, staining his teeth and lips before winding along a sharp cheekbone to his ear.

"No," Willow rested her forehead against Spike's and wept.

"No." Willow took a heaving breath between sobs, otherwise she might have missed the slight lifting of Spike's chest.

Pulling herself over Spike's prone form, Willow tried to ignore the wet sounds as she crawled over him. She tried to keep herself from touching him and causing any more damage than she had already done with all the magic and the shaking. Her hands slid over the clean tile of her kitchen floor, sending her skidding. The front of her shirt and the material of her jeans were soaked through as well, making it even more difficult for her to make it across the kitchen.

"Nonononono." It was her mantra even as she tried to stand, slipped, and knocked the butcher's block to the floor.

Willow pulled the cordless phone from its resting place on the counter and dialed the Magic Box without thinking. Anya, sounding more chipper than usual, answered on the second ring.

"Magic Box, this is Anya."

"It's Willow. Get Giles. Spike's hurt." Willow didn't even bother to hang up, simply dropping it as she moved back to her friend's side.

"Come on, Spike." Willow lightly smacked at his face.

She turned to see if Spike was moving at all when a sharp glint of sunlight caught her eye. It took her longer to realize that it was the sun reflecting on the blade of a small paring knife than it did for her to come to a decision about what to do. Snatching the black handle in a shaking hand, Willow bit her lip against the pain and drew it sharply across the skin of her left forearm.

Sliding to lay on her side, Willow put her head on the demon's shoulder and held the fresh cut to his lips. "Open your mouth, Spike, just a little swallow or two. That's all I want."

Willow thought that, if she could get Spike's body to do what came naturally, then its demon would come out and begin drinking properly.

She saw the corded muscles of Spike's throat work just before his lips opened wider over the cut, pulling more of her flesh into his mouth. A moment later, the ridges of the demon appeared, and he started drinking in earnest. Willow could only watch in fascination as large hands rose to caress her skin, long fingers wrapping around her arm as her head began to grow fuzzy.

A muffled `bloody hell' made her smile, and two amber eyes were the last thing she saw before her eyes drifted closed.

"Red?" Willow heard the heavily accented voice through the blackness. "Willow, pet, you've been asleep for 18 hours and 20 minutes now. Come on and wake up."

_Spike_. With the remembrance of his name came the painful images.

"Hurt." Willow was trying to form a whole sentence, but found it impossible, as whole thoughts weren't yet forming.

"I know it does, luv." Something cool and damp brushed her forehead. "You can go back to sleep if you want to. You sure as hell deserve it."

"No," the redhead's eyes blinked open.

Spike, clean but with a tired look about him, was sitting on the computer chair beside her bed. His usually slick hair curled above his eyes and stuck up in odd places on top. Tape spanned the bridge of his nose, and the blues and greens of fading bruises around his eyes made their blue color stand out even more. He winced as he leaned forward to brush the damp cloth over her face.

"I'm not going to force you to, but you really *do* need to rest."

"No... I meant... I meant you're hurt."

Spike's shout of startled laughter caused Willow to jump. A moment later, the room was swarmed by an ex demon, a Key, and a carpenter, all smiling and hugging the witch. Giles followed closely, carrying a glass of orange juice and a bottle of aspirin for Willow along with a large mug of blood on a small tray.

"I'm glad you're back." Dawn stretched out beside Willow, resting her head on the older girl's shoulder.

"You had us worried, Willow."

"I wasn't worried." Spike gulped at the blood.

"Sorry Giles." Willow obediently swallowed the two pills Giles handed her and sipped at the orange juice.

"Yes, well, do try not to do it again."

"How long was I out?"

"Eighteen hours and twenty-five minutes." Spike answered before anyone else could turn their wrists to check the time.

"But you weren't worried at all." Anya gave the vampire a look of pure amused disbelief.

"I was concerned. It's not the same thing."

"Keep telling yourself that, Blondie."

Willow caressed the back of Spike's hand. "Thank you."

"I should be thanking you, even though what you did was insane. Not to mention one of the more stupid things you've ever done."

"You were hurt. There was blood." Willow set her nearly empty glass back on the tray. "I had to help you."

"Not that I don't appreciate it, Red, but you can't just go around offering that sweet blood of yours to every hurt vampire you come across."

"I didn't offer it to just any vampire, Spike. I gave it to you." As an afterthought, Willow cocked her head to one side. "You think my blood is sweet?"

"The best I ever tasted."

"You're just saying that because it's been a while since you had fresh." A bit of the Willow who had comforted him in the dorm room that night when he couldn't bite her peaked through in the blush coloring her cheeks.

"Nah pet, I meant that. You're a nummy treat."

"Okay, not really what I needed to know about my best friend." Xander rolled his eyes and sank down onto the bed beside Dawn's hip. "Now will you tell us what happened?"

"Yeah, Spike, who hurt you?" Dawn had been twisting a lock of Willow's hair around her finger as the others talked. Now she focused all her attention on the blonde sitting on the other side of her favorite witch. "If whoever it was turns out to be human, I'll take care of them."

"You gonna be my hired gun, now?" Spike smirked at the girl.

"Hey, I know people." Dawn affected a casual shrug, though Willow could feel the strain in the girl's shoulders.

"Well, Buffy started it," Spike hurried to finish before Dawn could finish sitting up in shock. "A bunch of newbies tried to finish it."

"Why did Buffy start it?"

"Things have been different since she came back, Nibblet." Spike puffed his cheeks out and ran a hand through already disheveled hair. "We got into a fight, started hitting, and she ended up being in better form. Nothing that hasn't happened before."

"It still isn't right, Spike." Willow smiled wanly at Spike.

"I know. Just not sure what to do about it."

"So this happened in your crypt?" Anya's eyes were twinkling after taking in how Spike and Willow were acting, and Willow was happy the ex demon had kept any comments to herself.

"No. We were in Grandview."

"You **do** know that the Magic Box is closer to that cemetery, right?"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't figuring on any kind of last minute heroics." Spike shook a cigarette out of his pack. "Thought I should say my goodbyes while I could."

"That's so sweet." Dawn pulled a surprised Spike into a tight hug before scooting out of the bed. "Giles said that I had to go home after you woke up."

"Willow needs her rest." Xander leaned over and hugged Willow gently. "Take care of yourself."

"I'm going to stay here and sleep, Xan. I doubt I can hurt myself too much. Besides, Spike's got a supply of blood here now, right?"

"Yes, he does." Giles bent to hug her before continuing. "There is more than enough for two days, in case he needs extra."

"We'll be fine, guys." Willow spoke over Anya's shoulder as she found herself surrounded by the other girl's strong arms. "I'm going to sleep and maybe try to get some reading done."

Everyone said their goodbyes to Spike before heading out of the room. A few minutes later, the front door closed and Willow sunk back down on the bed.

"Are you going to tell me what *really* happened?" Willow patted the space Dawn had left beside her. "Did Buffy do all of this?"

_I knew she was different, but this is just inexcusable. Please don't let it all be her._

Spike kicked his boots off and slid to lie on top of the covers after making sure Willow was fully tucked in. "I'm not lying to you, luv. Buffy and I did fight, and she was in better form than me. I was pretty beat up when she left, but nothing that I couldn't heal from in a night.

"I was making my way out of the cemetery when a big group of fledglings found me. I took out five or six, but there were just too many. They left me to die, said I shouldn't be dusted so quick for helpin' the slayer and all. I made it to the tunnels, though, and made my way here."

"I'm glad you did."

"So am I, pet. So am I." Spike finished smoking and ground the butt out in the ashtray he must have found downstairs. "I was wondering something."

"Yeah?"

"This thing with Buffy, it's not good for me. You know?"

"I'm aware of that, yes." Willow let her head drop to the side, resting it lightly against Spike's on her pillow.

"Thing is, I don't think I can let it go if I'm always seeing her all the time."

"I could see how that would make breaking things off harder to do." Willow smiled at the hesitation in the blonde's voice. "Do you want to stay here for a while?"

"Wouldn't want to impose."

"I offered, didn't I?"

"Well, if you're insisting." Willow could tell there was a small smile on the man's lips without seeing him.

"I'm insisting. Now go to sleep."

"Never let it be said that I refused an offer to unlive with a beautiful lady." Spike wound an arm under Willow's shoulders and let himself be lulled to sleep by her even breathing.


	6. Chapter 6

It was just after 2:00 that afternoon when Willow next awoke. Her entire body felt heavy, and her head light, but she knew from experience that it was from the loss of blood. A shower and something to eat would go a long way in making her feel better. Now all she had to do was convince her heavy limbs to pull herself out of bed.

"Spike?"

The blonde was nowhere in sight, and she didn't get an answer. After listening for a few seconds, she was able to discern Spike's heavy accent as he shouted at something on the television. Giggling to herself, Willow slowly moved to sit on the edge on the bed to let her head stop swimming before she stood.

Wobbling legs bore her to the dresser where she pulled out a pair of comfortable pajama pants and a tank top as well as panties. Thanking whoever thought up building bras into tank tops, the tired girl flopped down on the toilet cover to remove her clothes. The sweat pants and long sleeved shirt were way to warm for the spring day.

Willow shucked the pants, hoping that it was Anya and Dawn who had dressed her, but decided almost instantly that she wasn't going to be asking any questions. It was embarrassing to think of Spike or Giles seeing her in her underwear, Xander had seen her in them a few times over the years of their childhood, but it would be worse to *know* that one of them had seen more than she was comfortable with. Asking about it alone would probably turn her red for a week.

Willow threw them into her hamper before turning to face the door, and giving a shout. The long mirror mounted onto the door gave the witch a clear view of her entire body. A body that had undergone a few more changes while Willow was sleeping.

Her long legs, once milky white, then a shimmering white, were now wrapped in the same brighter glittering as her chest. The lines of the brighter silver-white emerged from the glimmering skin just to the outside of her lower ankle and climbed their way up her legs as they circled, hooking and twisting like the tattoos some of the boys at school sported around their arms. The tops of the vining columns disappeared under the bottom edges of her panties.

Willow yanked desperately at her shirt. Her panties and bra quickly followed, and the redhead stood staring into the mirror. Twisting her body one way and another, she took in the changes.

The almost wicked looking vines slid over the swell of her hips before dipping toward one another. They tangled over and across the small of her back and up the skin at both sides before splitting just under both arms. One line on either side of her back crawled over her shoulder blades and wrapped down her arm in the same manner as her legs. The other lines slid around to join the now matching `V' on her chest.

She was so intent on studying the new additions to her full body make over that the sharp knock on the door caused her to jump.

"You okay in there, Red?"

"Yeah," Willow rested one hand on her chest, nearly laughing at the rapid thumping of her heart. "I'm fine."

"You sure? I can smell your fear all the way in the living room."

"There were a few more changes made to my look without my permission while I was sleeping. I was just trying to get used to the newest parts of my new look. I'm okay, really."

"Want me to have a look?"

_You have no idea. Bad Willow. He's trying to get over Buffy, here; he doesn't need you going all hormonal on him._

"No, Spike, I'm... I'm good."

"I'm sure you are, luv." She could hear the teasing in the vampire's voice and was secretly glad that the Spike she knew was still there.

"Go back downstairs, Spike."

"Fine, I'm going. I know when I'm not wanted."

"Whatever, Spike. Just go."

"Yell if you need help with any hard to reach areas."

Willow heard the door to her room close and smiled.

It didn't take Willow long to shower, since someone had cleaned her up after her stint as an emergency blood donor the day before. She scrubbed her body quickly, glad to see that the color changes still weren't causing any pain. Her hair, still matted with blood in places, came clean after two rather impressive battles with the shampoo. Willow was just working conditioner into the strands when she was rudely reminded that she had missed two vision rituals in the past two days.

{"Are you sure I can't play with you?" Vampire Dawn pouted prettily at a horrified Xander. "It would be so much fun."}

"Okay, Willow," the redhead hurriedly began rinsing her hair for the last time. "Get dry, get dressed, and figure out what the *hell* is going on with the visions of Dawn as a vampire."

Willow rubbed the towel over her hair quickly before running it over the rest of her body. She didn't take the time to rub on her lotion or even comb through her tangled locks. Pulling her clothes on as fast as her damp skin would allow, she opened the door to her room and began setting up for the ritual.

She didn't spend as much time on the preparations as she had over the last week, but decided that an emergency called for slightly altered plans. There was a brief prayer to the Goddess for protection and guidance before she hurried to ground and center herself. She had forgone the sage incense and struggled a bit to focus before the image of Dawn came.

{Dawn was standing in front of a giggling Willow, wearing a black dress designed to look tattered. Her hair was in a wildly flirtatious style, and the smile covering the younger girl's lips could only be described as devilish.

"Say you'll do it, please?"

"Buffy would *not* be happy. You know that, right?"

"Buffy's being a total..." Dawn looked between Willow and a silent Spike, "b-i-t-c-h. Besides, you KNOW it would be cool."

"Okay," Willow nodded to herself. "I'll vamp you out."

Dawn squealed in delight and threw her arms around Willow's shoulders in a tight embrace. "Thank you! Thank You! This will be so much fun!"

"But-"

"Figures."

"It's nothing bad, Dawnie. I just want you to be sure to wait at the dance for Anya and Xander to pick you up and take you home. I don't want to run the risk of some vamp deciding you'd make a good playmate for the evening or Buffy to jump to the wrong conclusions."

"I can do that."

"Good. I'm also going to put it on a timer."

"Like Cinderella?"

"Something like that, but earlier."

"Earlier?" Willow smiled at the whine that only a teenaged girl can pull off.

"Yes, earlier. The dance ends at 11:00, so I'll have the spell end at 11:30."

"See, pet?" Spike made his first contribution to the conversation. "It's only half an hour before that bint. Just don't go losing any shoes. You're much too young to be gettin' hitched."

"Is it a deal?"

"Yeah, it'll be great!" Dawn was back to bouncing, again, something only a teenaged girl can pull off. "Vamp me now! Vamp me now!"

"Come on, Spike, we could use your help with this one."}

Willow left the vision to see a smiling Spike leaning against the side of her open bedroom door. "You'll never guess what Dawn's going to have me do tonight."

"Fill me in over breakfast? I've made you pancakes." Spike turned and headed down the hall before Willow could form a response to his out of character statement.

"Pancakes?" Willow shook her head and ran to catch up with the retreating blonde.

"So, Nibblet wants to be a vampire for this mixer at school." Spike chuckled into his second mug of blood. "It takes balls to vamp the Slayer's kid sister, even if it's just a gag. I'm proud of you, ducks."

"What can I say, I'm a rebel. Besides, I'm not a big fan of Buffy's at the moment."

"I told you that it was a mutual thing. I landed my share of punches and kicks."

Willow busied herself with gathering her syrup covered plate and the glass that had held her milk. She moved from her stool at the counter top and rinsed them out before loading them into the dishwasher.

"You and Buffy have been patrolling together for a while now. You know her routine, right?

"Course I do."

"Tell me."

"Well, there are two separate routes. One is to go Grandview, then Walnut Hills, before heading over to Greenlawn, and then back through Grandview. The second is to go through Grandview before hitting the older cemeteries of Oakwood, Grove, and St. Peter's before another sweep of Grandview. Either way, Grandview is always hit twice since it's the newest cemetery and pretty well populated."

"My point exactly." Willow worried her bottom lip with her teeth, hating to be the one to have this conversation with the vampire.

"What bloody point would that be?"

"Don't you see, Spike? You guys fought before you left Grandview for the first time, right?" At his nod, Willow continued. "That means she *had* to have come through there again. There's no way for her to have gone back and not felt a vampire. She would have gone to investigate, and seen you. She didn't do anything to help you, Spike. She left you out there to die!"

Spike remained silent as Willow finished cleaning up after his cooking spree. His eyes had grown to a smokey blue, and a muscle behind his jaw twitched slightly. Willow, deciding that she had said far more than was wise, found her copy of -Atlas Shrugged- and the three books that analyzed it. An angry Spike who had let his food go cold wasn't a Spike who liked company as a general rule.

"Where are you off to?"

"Just headed for the living room. I've *got* to get started on this paper. Of course, since I haven't been to school all week, I should have at least been doing the reading for it. Now, I have History to deal with before I can even start on the Women In Literature paper. The History is due first, so I *have* to finish it. The Lit can wait, really, though it's due Friday."

"I could probably help." Spike downed the last of the congealing blood in one gulp with a grimace of distaste. "What's the paper on?"

"The rule of Henry VIII, and its effect on Ireland."

"Okay, maybe I'll just go take a nap." Spike grinned at Willow's giggle and headed on up the stairs.

Willow spent the next few hours reading over her notes and history text before really getting to work on the actual paper. It wasn't really all that hard, as she had always been interested in Ireland and how things got to be in the state that they are. The thought of some king giving away land that wasn't his, that he had never even seen, to nobles who then abused the inhabitants angered her.

_There's that smell again_. The whiff of burning copper surrounded the redhead. _It only happens when I'm angry. Goddess, I wish I knew what was going on with this. _

It was just after sunset when she put the finishing touches on the paper. She had just saved the information and sent the command to print when Spike came through her door and flopped across her bed.

"Finished?"

"I'm done with the History, but I still have the other to do." Willow stood from her chair, stretching as she moved. "I'm due for something to eat. You want something?"

"I'll come with you, pet."

The witch and the vampire had just stepped off the last step when the front door was unceremoniously thrown open to reveal a smirking Buffy. The slayer ran her eyes over Spike before striding fully into the house.

"You didn't meet me." Willow was surprised to see that Buffy was pouting as if Spike had stood her up for a date.

"I didn't think you wanted me to after the other night." Spike dug his cigarettes and lighter out of his pocket, lighting up before facing the blonde woman head on. "I don't think I'm going to be doing patrols or anything else with you."

"Oh?" Buffy straightened and looked at the vampire with a set jaw. "Why's that?"

"Decided I need a change of scenery. You've got issues, and I've done my time with one loony bitch."

Willow retreated to the relative safety of the kitchen where she began heating blood for Spike. She leaned against the counter, listening in as Buffy huffed for a moment before finding her voice.

"How DARE you!" Buffy closed the distance between her and the vampire in four long strides. "You can't just break things off like that."

"Here I was thinking that I just did." Spike took a drag from his smoke and blew the cloud to the side. "I think it's time you leave."

"No, I don't think it is." Buffy pushed Spike in the chest, forcing him to back up a step, before jabbing him in the chest with one perfectly done nail.

"You can't hit or hurt anything human except me. You're a weak, pathetic excuse for a vampire, and-"

"Enough!" Willow wasn't sure how she had come to be between the two blondes, but she didn't take the time to dwell on it.

"You will *not* come into *my* house and talk to Spike that way! I don't care what kind of problems you're having. That doesn't give you the excuse to talk to him or anyone else that way! Goddess, Buffy, you're acting like some kind of possessive, abusive girlfriend instead of the girl who's been my best friend for years."

"When did you start sleeping with him?"

The change of subject took Willow by surprise, and all she got out was a stuttered "W-What?"

"You heard me, Willow. When did you decide to move in on my territory?"

"Buffy, I didn't even know you were doing anything with Spike until this whole vision thing started. I'm not sleeping with him now, nor have I ever slept with him. I couldn't be that lucky. Now, I think it's time for you to get out of my house."

Buffy looked around the irate redhead to yell at Spike again. "We're not through until *I* say we're through."

Willow instinctively pulled energy from the earth and the air in the room, picturing the training room of the Magic Box. She began putting all the energy she could into what she knew she was about to attempt.

"You NEED me!" With that shout from Buffy, Willow released all the energy, and the small blonde slayer disappeared.

Without acknowledging Spike's uttered `bloody hell', Willow simply moved to her telephone, dialing the number quickly. "Is Buffy there?"

"Willow?" Anya's breathless voice answered her. "Yes, she just appeared out of nowhere in the training room."

"Good. Bye." Willow hung up and faced the vampire in her living room.

"I sent her to the Magic Box. I had to make sure she made it there."

"What did you mean?"

"About what?" Willow took the blood from the microwave and handed it to the now mobile vampire before retrieving herself some chips from the cabinet.

"About not being lucky enough to be sleeping with me."

_Figures he'd remember that. _

"Um, nothing." Willow could feel the blush burning her face as she headed towards the stairs. "I'm going to get that history paper bound before Dawn gets here." Willow tried to retreat to her room, but Spike was right on her heels.

"C'mon, Red. Tell me what you meant." Spike set his mug on the desk before pinning her against it with his body. "Tell Spike all about it."

_Now would be a good time for the Hellmouth to open up and eat me... Come on... Anytime now would work... Goddess, it should be illegal to look that good while being all smirky and evil._

"Spike," Willow sighed and forced the vampire to back up so she could move to put her paper in its clear binding. "Y...You know."

"No, I don't. Why don't you tell me?" He was smirking again as he sipped at his blood.

"You... You're." Willow let out a frustrated sigh. "I think they had you in mind when they came up with the term `sex on legs'. Happy?"

Willow thanked herself, again, for figuring out how to take blood out of carpeting when Spike spurted the mouthful he was about to swallow across the room at her admission.

"But this shouldn't really make any difference to you, since you're just now getting away from Buffy, and I refuse to be Rebound Girl for you. I hope you're not too weirded out by that or anything. It shouldn't change anything with us being friends, since I've always thought you were a hottie." Willow jumped when the doorbell chimed. "And I'm just gonna shut up and go answer the door now. Because that's what you do, you know... Answer the door when the doorbell rings."

Willow nearly ran to answer the door, wanting to be as far away from the blonde as she could get in the hopes that she wouldn't hear him when he started laughing.

"Dawn!" Willow pulled the girl through the door and up the stairs.

"Um, hello." Dawn panted for breath after her near sprint up to Willow's room where there were candles and incense already burning. "I was going to ask if-"

"You want to look like a vampire for your dance tonight, right? That's why I have everything all set up."

"How did you know?"

Willow simply pointed at the side of her head and winked, giving the younger Summers sister a grin. "Madam Willow knows all."

"That's so cool."

"I try." Willow lit one more candle while she off handedly motioned towards a jewelry box. "Pick something out of there that you'd like to wear tonight, okay?"

"Cool." Dawn rummaged through the contents before she caught sight of Spike sitting on the bed. "Hi Spike."

Spike nodded to the girl. "Nibblet."

"How's this?" The giddy teen handed Willow a small silver choker surrounded with stars.

"That's perfect."

"Now can we do the spell on me?"

"We're not going to do the spell on you. We're going to do it on the necklace. That way I don't have to put energy out all night to keep you in all your vampire glory." There was a very Willowy grin as she explained her plan.

"Sounds good to me."

"You *do* know that Buffy is going to freak, right?" Spike chuckled from the bed, and Willow knew he was enjoying her little bit of trouble causing.

"Hush, Spike, or she might change her mind." Dawn actually sounded worried, which just caused Spike to laugh harder.

"Nope, she won't even know." Willow held up the necklace she'd been concentrating on since Dawn had picked it out. "We'll make it so the spell wears off the necklace at eleven tonight."

"And since Xander and Anya are taking me and picking me up, she'll have no idea!" Dawn threw her arms around Willow's shoulders. "Willow, I love you!"

"I love you too, Dawnie, but now I need for you to be quiet. I have to concentrate."

Twenty minutes later, Willow came down the stairs to say hello to Xander and Anya. The couple was there to pick up their passenger for the evening, though Anya was quite vocal about her displeasure of not getting enough bed time.

"Anya," Xander patted his girlfriend on the arm. "We're going to go out and have a nice dinner, then pick Dawn up. After that, we're going home for a long niiiiiii- Oh my God!"

Xander and yelled so loudly that Spike nearly dropped the mug he'd been sipping out of for the last ten minutes while talking to Xander and Anya. Anya covered her ears and looked reproachfully at her lover. Xander, having hurdled the back of the sofa, now stood rooted in place while pointing to the slight figure on the stairs.

"What's the matter, Xan?" Dawn's lilting voice teased from the shadows. "Don't like the new look?"

"Dawn?" Anya giggled softly. "Forget I was complaining. That has to be the best costume ever!"

"Costume?" Dawn raised an eyebrow in her best Spike imitation. "I'm not wearing a costume. Xander looks nice. Can I play with him, Anya?"

"Sorry kid, he's mine."

"But she... How can you... Willow?" Xander could do little more than stutter and point at the small girl in the doorway to the living room.

Dawn's usually flawless skin had been transformed into an unnatural white. The color brought out the deep blue of her eyes wonderfully. The ridges running along her forehead only seemed to make her more attractive, or that's what Spike had said at least. The small fangs glistening in the lamplight seemed almost cute.

"It's just a spell, Xan." Willow giggled at her best friend. "It's going to wear off at 11:00, and there's nothing more to it than looks and a muffled heartbeat. There's no hunger for blood or any change to Dawn at all."

"You sure?"

"Positive." Willow handed Dawn the coat she was lending the girl for the evening. "Now, go have fun."

"Bye Willow," Anya chirped on her way past. "Thank you for the laugh."

"Yeah, thanks." Xander's remark left no doubt that he didn't mean a word of it, but Willow knew he'd forget about being annoyed by the time they got to the school.


	7. Chapter 7

Xander's car hadn't left the driveway before Spike turned to Willow with a raised eyebrow and that sexy as sin grin. "So I'm sex on legs, am I?"

Willow wondered if the glittering tribal designs on her skin were pink, as she felt the heat rush along her skin. _Stupid, annoying, gorgeous, flirty vampires! Homework, Willow. Just focus on what you have to do for class and try not to think about the vampire standing... so... close... Stop it! Homework! Think of homework!_

The redhead shuffled over to the coffee table where she had left the books for her literature class. She let her mind clear of everything except the task laid out in front of her, not hearing Spike move around. She had just begun to think that maybe he had decided that she wasn't worth bothering when she was spun by strong hands to meet intense blue eyes.

"You think I'm good looking, pet?"

Willow wriggled away from Spike's grasp and turned back to her notes. "S-Spike, y... you _have_ to know that... well, that... Come on, Spike, you know you're gorgeous."

Willow thought she heard a small sigh, and looked up from her notes in time to catch the end of a shrug. "You're telling me that _no one _has told you how you look?"

"Like one of the girls I was in the middle of draining? Not bloody likely, pet."

"What about Dru?"

"What about her?"

"Didn't she ever tell you anything about the way you look?"

"Used to call me her `pretty pet', but she only had two words for things like that. You were either `pretty' or `nasty'. Sometimes, for variety, she'd throw in `smelly'.

"Really?"

"Really." Spike traced the backs of his fingers along Willow's cheek. "You were always `the pretty tree', and Buffy was either `nasty slayer' or `smelly slayer'."

"She smells to vampires?"

Spike dropped his hand in favor of finding the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. "I think it had more to do with the musk stuff she used to wear."

"Yeah, it _was_ a little strong."

"A _'little'_!" Spike blew a long stream of smoke out as he chuckled. "Smelled like a cheap French whore's more like it."

Spike nodded sagely to himself even as Willow's shocked laughter burst from her mouth.

"Spike, even though I hate what she did, she's still my friend. I'm angry and appalled, but I can't stop loving her just like that." Willow snapped her fingers to show how quickly `that' was.

"I know that, Red. It's one of the things I like about you."

Willow smiled softly and went back to her outline.

"Just how attractive am I, pet?"

"Ugh!" Willow threw her notes down and stepped over to the grinning vampire. "Here!"

Touching her forehead to his, Willow pushed a picture of what he looked like at that moment into his mind. Willow would have liked to have seen the look on his face, but that would mean breaking contact. Without that, Willow doubted she could keep the borrowed mental picture going, so she simply stood and waited.

It was a full ten minutes before a harsh whisper came from the blonde. "Do I always look like this?"

Willow gave the barest shake of her head, sending forth the memory of the first time she saw him, not realizing until too late that the feelings the accompanied the memories were also going out.

"You were frightened, weren't you pet?"

"More than ever, and that was two years after Buffy came, so that's saying a lot."

Spike pulled away from the redhead, and Willow was shocked to see a solitary tear trailing down his cheek. Before she could comment, he stepped past her and picked up her discarded notes. "So, what's this then?"

"My assignment for Women In Literature. I'm supposed to describe what I got out of the book, and if I agree or disagree with the author's philosophy."

"Shouldn't be too hard for a smart bird like you."

"Well, it would have helped if I had actually read the other books."

"Shirking your school work?" Spike clucked at her as he grinned, moving to sprawl out in one of the easy chairs with one of the books. "Won't that get you into trouble?"

"Hey! I read the assigned book, I just didn't read the books on the book. Besides, I don't really have to go to classes. As long as I'm there for all the tests and the assignments get turned in on time, no one cares."

"I could go to school if they were all like that."

"You can take a lot of courses online now, too."

"Really," Spike never looked up, but Willow could tell the vampire was trying to hide his interest behind the indifference.

"Maybe I'll show you sometime."

"If you want to, pet."

It was two hours later, just after nine, by the time Spike and Willow finished discussing the works they'd read. Willow was making notes in a shorthand that she repeatedly assured Spike that she could understand, having decided that _Atlas Shrugged_ was one of the better books she'd been assigned in the class. _With any luck, I'll have this whole paper finished by Tuesday or Wednesday_.

Spike stood from his chair and moved to the door of the living room just as the front door was thrown open unceremoniously. Buffy was through the opening before the door bounced off the wall and swung closed on its own momentum. She didn't even pause to look at Spike, now standing fully in the foyer in front of her, before spinning to glare at Willow.

"I cannot believe you did that!"

"I sent you somewhere safe." Willow's voice was small, and she hated that she sounded so much like the mouse that she had been when the blonde had first arrived in town. "I just needed you to go, and you wouldn't."

"I don't want to hear it. I just don't need you showing off like that."

"What the hell are you prattling on about, Slayer?" Spike had retrieved another cigarette and lit it while Buffy was talking.

"She's already got everyone running around researching why she's changing colors and trying to figure out what's going to happen next." Buffy turned back to the redhead. "I don't need you keeping Spike here on top of everything else."

"I'm not keeping him here. Spike can leave whenever he wants to."

"What makes you think she's keeping me here, Slayer?"

"You weren't at our usual place." Buffy pouted prettily for Spike's benefit. "She has to be using magic or something to keep you here."

"Actually, Buffy," Willow moved to stand just in front of Spike. "He was helping me with my homework. Didn't you hear him earlier? He doesn't want anything to do with you."

"I can fight my own battles, luv." Spike's voice was soft, keeping the words from hurting the small redhead.

Spike gently moved the small redhead to stand behind him, shielding her with his body. "I'm tired of never being the one that the person I'm with really wants. I'm sick of being used as a substitute or a punching bag! I'm through, okay? Do you hear me? Done."

"You should be happy with what you get!" Buffy looked the vampire up and down. "You're not worth caring about, let alone loving. I can see why Dru always had a candle for Angel. You're nothing compared to him."

"Go to hell!" Willow was stunned at her own outburst before she shook it off and moved to stand fully in front of Spike's motionless body. "Spike is ten times the man Angel ever was, and more than one hundred times the demon. You're just pi... mad that Spike can care without a soul and Angelus was an unfeeling bastard. If you can't at least be civil to Spike, then you need to leave him alone. That's starting right now. And, if you can't grow up and not be a bit... bad person about this, then you need to get out of my house. You're not welcome here."

The front door opened with a wave of Willow's hand and the blonde slayer turned and left with a huff.

Willow went to the window, making sure that Buffy seemed to be leaving this time. When the small blonde was about to turn the corner, a near roar brought Willow around with a shriek of fear trying to fight its way past the lump in her throat. It took her a moment to process the scene now in front of her.

Spike was leaning against the wall in full game face. His hand and wrist were hidden behind the layers of paint and drywall he'd just made a rather large hole in. Blood tinged tears slid down his cheeks, shoulders shaking in great, silent sobs.

"She's right." Spike's mumbled words were spoken against the wet surface of the wall.

"What?"

"Buffy," Spike put his forehead against the wall and gazed at his boots. "She's right. I'm not worth more than a shag here and there, or to take anger out on."

"No, Spike," Willow rushed to the sobbing vampire's side and pulled his bleeding hand from the wall, wincing when she caught sight of the broken stud and dented cement inside the hole. "She's being a petty, vindictive bitch. She said those things to hurt you, to make you think that you deserve whatever she says and does."

Willow eased the two of them down to sit on the floor just in front of her door, keeping her arms securely wrapped around the blonde's body. She was able to maneuver her legs so that he rested between them while her back was pressed to the wall behind her.

"You're one of my best friends, Spike. I'm not going to let you keep going on this self destructive kick you're on. I've been in that self-hating hole, and it's not for you."

"I can't do it."

The words were spoken softly, against her shoulder, but Willow heard them clearly enough to catch the desperation in them. "What can't you do, Spike?"

"I can't be here, be confronted like that all the time, and not do something that I'll hate myself for."

"Then let's get out of here." Willow brightened at the idea.

_Why not? I sure as heck deserve a bit of a break after everything I've done over the past year. _

"You mean, run away?" Spike had pulled away from her shoulder to look her in the eye, but his body still rested in her loose embrace. "Just like that?"

"Well, we can run away for a little while. I have to be back in time to turn my History paper in on Tuesday, but it's only Saturday night. That gives us a little while to get away and let you just decide what you want to do."

"You'd do that for me, luv?"

"I'm *doing* that for you. Now get up so we can go pack, you heavy vampire."

"Where did you say we're going?" Spike poked his head through the door to Willow's room, grinning at her mock glare.

"I didn't say where we're going, and stop trying to trick me into telling you!" Willow's giggle made Spike's smile widen.

"Aw, c'mon pet," Spike hefted Willow's small suitcase and book bag along with his own duffle before the two headed down the stairs. "Tell your bestest pal where he's bein' whisked away to."

Willow's only response was to shake her head before they began placing the bags in the trunk of the car, having to try three times to get it all in around the rather large cooler of blood. Spike stopped more than once to tell her that the Desoto could easily have been packed, but Willow nixed the idea each time it was brought up.

"Spike, I can't see to drive that thing."

"I'll drive. See? All fixed."

"Huh uh! I'm surprising you here, buddy. Knowing where we're going does not a surprise vacation make."

"Wait." Spike's face was a mask of sudden horror. "We're not going to see Peaches, right?"

"I can assure you that we are not going to see Angel. We're going in the opposite direction, even."

"So we're going south, then. Inland or coastal?"

"Get in the car, Spike."

"Spoilsport."

"Don't I know it? Now, are you going to get in the car, you big baby? Or am I leaving without you?"

Spike hurried to slide into the front seat, checking that there was a thick blanket handy should he need it. "You do realize that we're stopping for road munchies, right?"

"What kind of trip would it be if I didn't?"

The two friends laughed as they left Sunnydale, stopping at the first mammoth gas station they saw. Well stocked up on sugar in every form they could think of, Willow directed the car toward the coast. Spike tried to ask questions, but finally decided that singing along to the radio was more entertaining.

Two and a half hours later, just after 11:30, the sedan rolled to a stop in front of a large Victorian house set back from the road. It's back was skirted with balconies, and its front was adorned in numerous trellises of climbing roses. The heady smell of the pink and red blossoms surrounded the two of them as they slid out of the car; Willow moving to pull the bags from the back as Spike took in the ocean view under the crescent moon.

"It's beautiful, luv." Spike had taken the bags from Willow's hands and carried the cooler under one arm.

"Isn't it?"

The two had just stepped up onto the covered porch when the door was pulled open. A tall, amazingly thin woman with perfectly blue scales stood just inside. She flashed a smile full of small green teeth before moving to shake Willow's hand and nod politely to Spike.

"Welcome to the Blue Shell." The woman noticed the bags and cooler Spike was carrying, and gave a sharp whistle. A moment later, a smaller blue person appeared. "Take their things up to the dark room, Croman."

"Yes, mama."

"Thank you for taking us on such short notice."

"It was no problem. We don't get a lot of calls for vampires, especially not up from Sunnydale. When someone from the Hellmouth calls, we try to be accommodating."

"A room for a few nights is more than enough, thanks." Spike shifted from foot to foot in the cool comfort of the porch.

"Sorry about grumpy Gus here," Willow inclined her head in Spike's direction. "He's a little hyper active, and being stuck in a car for the last two hours hasn't helped."

The owner of the bed and breakfast simply giggled lightly and motioned the two to follow her. "Please come inside. My name is Keemara, and, if you follow me, I'll show you to your room."

They followed the demon's lithe form into the foyer, past an open arch that lead to a large common room, and up the staircase that was situated to the left of the door. Walking along the hallway at the top of the stairs, Willow smiled at the large mirrors and antique furniture. They came to a stop at the end of the hall, just outside a door in a squared off corner.

"The entire top floor will be yours. We were going to turn it into two separate rooms, but, as I said, we don't get a lot of vampires staying, so it was more of a waste of money."

"Sounds good to me, ducks." Spike eyed the spiral stair revealed when Croman reappeared through the door. "We're just looking to get away from pretty much everyone for a bit."

"I know the feeling." Keemara smiled softly and handed both Willow and Spike a key to the door behind her. "I know you're probably tired and droopy from the ride, so just come and sign in after you're all settled."

"Thank you, I will." Willow couldn't help but feel attached to the other woman, though she really couldn't figure out why. Spike didn't seem to share her feelings, as he had already disappeared up the steps before Willow remembered to ask something important. "Oh, about my magic-"

"I've spoken to the other guests, there are only three, and none of them will have a problem with your type of spell." A soft chuckle accompanied the next words. "One wanted to know if you could see something for him."

Willow found herself a little uncomfortable, though curious as to whether or not she could actually do something like that. "I could try. I'm really new at this vision thing, and haven't tried to see anything that didn't apply to me or someone I'm close to."

"I'll let him know. Who knows? This could be your ticket to fortune and fame."

Both women laughed as they parted ways. Willow to follow Spike up the winding stairs, and Keemara back the way they'd come.

Willow gasped at the sight that greeted her as she made the last circle of the wrought iron bar that ran from floor to ceiling. The huge room had obviously been decorated with a vampire in mind, but Willow felt calm settle like a mantle around her shoulders as she took in the furnishings.

A large bed was situated in the center of each far wall, leaving the space between open for a small kitchenette on one side. The other side, the side that faced the water below, held a fireplace nestled between two great french doors, the heavy black drapes of which had been pulled back to let in the view of the waves crashing into cliffs. In front of the grate, a large sofa and two chairs sat clustered around a black metal and glass table.

The carpeting was a deep, deep red. The heavy drapes on all the windows were a solid black, reminding Willow instantly of the black t-shirt and red over shirt that Spike favored. The furnishings were all of a deep mahogany, accented with fabrics in black and varying shades of red. Even the canopy frames on the beds were wound with red and black gauzes and velours.

"Nice one, Red." Spike's voice from behind her caused Willow to jump a little.

"Don't do that! And thank you."

"No, I'm thinking that I should be the one doing all the thanking here."

"Well, if you insist." The redhead tossed her head and then held out a hand in a haughty gesture. "Go ahead. I'm ready."

Spike chuckled at her theatrics, and Willow tried to will away the tingling in her stomach at the sound. The vampire slipped long fingers under her knuckles, bending to brush a light kiss over them. "Thank you, Lady, for all you have done for me."

Willow dissolved into giggles at Spike's courtly manners before grazing a kiss over his angled cheek. "I'm going to take a shower. I feel grimy."

"You do that, pet. I'll go down and get us all checked in. Want me to get you something not prepackaged while I'm about?"

"Sure. I'm sure there's something around." Willow dug the keys to her car from her hip pocket and tossed them to the vampire.

"What's this, then?"

"Spike, it's a bed and breakfast." Willow dragged out her pajamas she'd packed before retrieving the bag containing her shower essentials. "There isn't any room service."

"Good point. Been a while since I stayed in something like this. I'll ask the blue bint about a good place for human food."

"Please don't call her that to her face."

"Just teasin' pet." Spike had pulled the leather of his coat back onto his shoulders, and gave her a smirk.

"Oh, bleh!" Willow heard Spike chuckling as she shut the bathroom door.

Twenty minutes later, Willow emerged from the steaming bathroom to find Spike laying out her dinner for her on the coffee table. "Didn't know which bed was whose, and you've been sitting the same way for hours in the car. Didn't want you hurting at the kitchen table while you tried to eat."

Willow smiled at his mini-babble and began the slow task of working the knots and twists out of her hair. "Thank you, Spike. You didn't have to drive all over looking for Chinese, but thank you even more for doing it."

Spike moved her to sit on the couch and handed her the little plastic fork that came with the order. Sliding behind her, he sat on the back of the couch, resting one leg to either side of Willow's back. "Was the least I could do. Now eat your chicken before it gets cold and hand me that comb."

Willow happily complied, surprised to find that Spike was amazingly gentle and patient as he worked steadily at all the damp knots in her hair. _I wonder if that says anything about what he'd be like in bed... Great Willow. Way to not think sexy thoughts while on this trip._

Once the knots were all worked out, Spike set the comb down and picked up the brush that had been lying on the couch beside Willow's leg. Three strokes of the stiff bristles later Willow had to force down the bite of rice in her mouth.

If Spike noticed that she had completely stopped moving, he didn't let on. He continued to run the brush through her flaming tresses, sliding his free hand behind to smooth down the slightly damp curls.

"Mmmmhhh," Willow's mouth had dropped open just a bit, and she didn't have time to stop the moan before it was out.

Spike didn't stop his movements as he chuckled. "It's good for me, too, pet."

_Well, there goes trying to play it cool_. Willow let her forearms rest against her knees as she slumped in self-defeat. _How am I getting through the next two days without doing something incredibly stupid?_


	8. Chapter 8

The next day started with a rather late morning, at least by Willow's standards. She didn't open her eyes until nearly noon, finally pulling herself from the comforts of the bed when she felt the tingling in her fingers and arms. She had done her morning ritual, seeing Spike throwing a baseball at some carnival stand, and then began her paper in earnest. The large mantle clock was chiming six when Spike sat down across from her at the small kitchen table.

_He should be a t-shirt model._ Willow swallowed heavily as she began gathering her books into a neat pile.

_That black against all that pale skin is... nice. Women all over would kill to get their husbands to look like... Wait. I don't want women everywhere lusting after Spike! Why not? It doesn't matter, Willow. He's a vampire, so no pictures. Yeah. No worries._ Willow saved her paper, now only a proofread or two away from completion, on her laptop.

The sun had dipped behind the cliffs on the other side of the small cove, and Spike had opened the drapes. "We doin' something tonight?"

"Yeah. I just need to do the evening ritual thing, and then we can get out of here."

"Need any help?" The blatant hope in the vampire's eyes made it impossible for Willow to refuse.

"No, but you can if you want too."

Spike shrugged indifferently, but Willow saw the smile that curved the edges of his lips just enough to be visible.

"Actually, I was thinking about finding the person who wanted me to try and see something for him. If you could help me be sure that he isn't going to try anything, that would be great."

"You're not doing it if it's dangerous, pet." Spike snuffed out his freshly lit cigarette to stare at her.

Willow began gathering the things she used for her spell. "I'm not planning on doing anything that could be dangerous, Spike. I've got enough to worry about at home. No, I want to be certain that it would be safe, and you'll keep me safe."

"Damn straight I will." Spike took the bag of supplies from the small witch and motioned toward the stairs when she made to protest. "Let me carry the bloody bag, pet. Get over the whole feminist thing and just walk."

"Fine," Willow tried to sound put out, if only for the sake of her inner feminist, but found the idea of someone carrying her bags for her too nice. _I just won't tell *him* that._

They moved from the upper hallway to the common room they had passed by the night before. Spike, immediately captivated by the large television that dominated a good bit of one wall, set her bag on the floor between his feet and began flipping through the channels at super human speed. Willow only shook her head and went in search of their pretty, blue hostess.

Slipping into the kitchen, Willow found Keemara laughing with another demon. The unfamiliar demon was tall, even as he occupied one of the larger chairs at the table. The muscles of his four arms were clearly defined, and Willow couldn't help but think that she should start a line of t-shirts for demons and make him her second model. The orange of his face was bisected by a jagged line of deep brown running from the roots of his deer green hair to the underside of his jaw.

"Keemara?" Willow hated to interrupt, but the tingling had returned to her arms and she wanted to do her ritual soon.

"Oh, Willow," Keemara stood from her seat and moved to lead the redhead further into the room. "This is N'Gutya. He's the one I was telling you about."

"Hello." Willow waved at the demon who'd just extended one of his large hands to her before realizing that she must appear rude. "I hope you're not offended, it isn't you. It's just that there's this tingling in my arms and hands when I've gone too long without `seeing' something, and that's usually followed by a painful vision. I wanted you to meet my friend before I tried to visualize anything for you."

"Oh, that's fine." The large smile that slid across his face convinced Willow that he was sincere, and she smiled back. "She wants to meet the demon you're reading for, huh?"

"_He_ is a vampire, and he wants to make sure that I'm safe."

"Even better." The chair scraped along the floor as he pushed himself back from the table. "Is he around?"

"I left him in the common room channel surfing, so he should still be there." Willow spoke over her shoulder as the two of them followed Keemara's lithe figure through the house to the door of the room. Spike could be heard yelling at the television.

"He always does that." Willow shook her head and smiled when Spike turned to look over his shoulder at the three newcomers. "Spike, this is N'Gutya. He's the one who wants me to do the reading."

Spike turned off the television before hopping the back of the couch in one fluid motion to stand just behind the redhead. "Maranadi demon, fairly harmless unless something they find dear is threatened."

"That was rude, Spike."

"Just wanted you to know what you were dealing with, pet." Spike put out a hand for the tall demon to shake. "Hey."

"I understand completely. We're known for our protective streaks, so I'm all for you being here to look after Miss Willow."

"Right then," Spike rubbed his hands together with a wide grin and pulled Willow's bag onto his shoulder. "Where're we settin' up?"

"In here would work fine for me, as long as nothing loud is going to interrupt." Willow looked at N'Gutya for his agreement, smiling when he nodded.

"We'll sit in the chairs so you can be comfortable. I've never done this for someone I didn't know, so I can't really promise anything."

"I don't need any promises. I trust that you will do your best."

"Maybe it would help to have a specific question in mind?" Willow bit at her lip as she put the candle in its holder and motioned for Spike to light the round piece of charcoal. "That way you could focus on it, and I'll focus on you."

N'Gutya simply nodded and took the seat that Spike pushed to face the one Willow had taken.

Willow cast her circle and centered herself. The trepidation she felt made grounding a little more difficult than normal, but the connection formed stronger for the effort. Placing her hands into those of the demon facing her, Willow let her mind focus on the thought that N'Gutya was projecting so clearly.

{"Are you happy?" N'Gutya was speaking to Keemara on the porch of the inn.

"Very."

"Do you... Do you ever miss your husband?"

Keemara turned to him, a puzzled look on her face. "That's an odd question, but yes, I do miss him. The pain isn't as sharp as it was when he first died, it has been nearly ten years, but I still ache a little. Why is it that you ask?"

N'Gutya removed a delicate silver cuff from one of the pockets of his pants. Holding it out to Keemara, the orange demon looked at her intently. "You've been wearing black for far too long."

"Yes, yes I have." Keemara smiled and moved to kiss her companion, giggling softly when his four arms surrounded her small frame.}

Willow slid back into reality with a sigh and a grin. She forestalled any questions silently and earthed the power still flowing through her frame. After she had blown out the candle and opened the circle, she pulled N'Gutya to follow her into the foyer.

"Go for it."

A wide smile lit the orange man's face. "You're sure?"

"Yep."

"Thank you." His large frame seemed to swallow her in a hug before Willow could respond.

"If you're done with your little meeting, Red, I say we go see if there's any trouble to get into." Spike stood beside the front door, an unreadable look in his eyes.

"I don't know about trouble, but I'm ready to do something anyway." Willow patted N'Gutya on one of his arms and smiled brightly at Keemara as she passed.

"Don't I get to know what the vision was?" The blue woman pouted.

"It's not my place to tell." Willow smiled at Spike as he shut the door behind them to the sound of their hostess begging the other demon for the information.

The two unlikely companions slid into the car and set out for the small city Keemara had told Spike about the night before. There was mention of a boardwalk along the beach and some decent restaurants. It should have been over twenty minutes away. Spike made the trip in ten.

Willow stood from the car on shaking legs and forced her hand away from the armrest where it had been clinging for the duration of the ride. "Okay, that's it. I'm driving back."

"If we had taken _my_ car, you wouldn't have seen the scenery flashing by like that."

"Doesn't make me feel any better, Spike." Willow shook out the flowing skirt she wore and glanced down to be certain her shirt was straight. The witch had decided that she could show a little more skin then she had been, so the top was a gray t-shirt that matched one of the colors in the skirt. It came to rest an inch above her exposed navel, showing off the flat of her tummy and part of the glittering designs at her sides and back.

"You look absolutely edible, pet." Spike looped an arm about her waist and guided her toward the lights strung along the shops and stands twenty yards away.

"Thanks. I think."

"Oh, that was a complement, luv. Trust me." Spike leered at the redhead, causing her to giggle softly.

Willow was about to respond when a large carousel set into the middle of the shopping area caught her eye. "Oh, look! We _have_ to ride that later!"

"If you say so, pet." Spike lit up a cigarette as they began meandering along the shops and booths, both taking in the odd mix of a strip mall and carnival-like games.

They had just ridden the carousel for the second time when Spike decided that Willow should have something to eat. Willow wanted to eat some of the food there, telling Spike that they didn't get anything like that in Sunnydale, and that she wanted `carney food'. The blonde vampire had simply laughed and bought her an elephant ear and some french fries that they loaded down with ketchup and vinegar.

"Hey mister," a man running a stand where you threw baseballs at a stack of bottles called out to the pair as they passed. "Show your girl what you're made of!"

"No thanks, mate." Spike grinned at Willow's slight blush, laughing out loud when the grin only served to make the rose color deeper.

"Win her a prize!" A woman sitting on the ledge of the next booth spoke up. "A girl as pretty as that should have something she can hold on to when you're not around."

Spike stopped in his tracks and turned to look the woman in the face. "What this, then?"

The woman, obviously sensing a potential customer stood and moved to the center of the wooden fence railing. Throwing her arms wide, she motioned to the balloon-covered, checkered board behind her, and then to the prizes hanging from the walls and just over her head. "You get three darts for five dollars. Pop a balloon, and get a prize."

"One prize for each dart?"

"Pop one, you get nothing. Two will get you something on the bottom. Three will get you anything on the walls. If you can pop three balloons in the same colored square, you can have anything in the booth."

Spike nodded and reached for his wallet, stopping Willow's protests about wasting money with a look.

_Okay, if he wants to be mister `macho man' and win something, I'll just let him waste the money. Never mind that we could probably *buy* the stupid prized for less at a store_. Willow resigned herself to letting Spike do his `guy thing' and happily munched on the remains of her dinner. _Who knew that lots of sugar and cinnamon on a piece of fried dough could be so filling?_

The first `pop' of the balloon made Willow jump. She'd been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed Spike receive the ammunition for the game. When she looked up at Spike, she saw him grinning at her so playfully that she giggled and placed a light kiss on his cheek.

"Want a prize, luv?"

"Yep. Win me something, Spike."

The blonde tossed the second dart with seemingly no attempt at aiming, though Willow knew otherwise. A second balloon, this a large blue one, was burst with a loud crack as the dart stuck firmly into the black square behind it. The small group of people who had stopped to watch the attractive blonde in the long coat try his hand at winning the beautiful redhead a gift clapped and whistled. Spike, who had been about to throw his last dart in rapid succession to the second, stopped and turned to bow to his audience.

"One more, and the lady chooses her prize!" The woman in the stand didn't seem to care that the blonde was about to get something big. Willow figured that Spike winning had probably brought more customers than the woman had seen all evening.

Spike tipped his head one way and another before landing a perfect shot to a yellow target in the upper left of the board, exposing the black check it had rested against. Seeing that Spike had struck three balloons, and that they had all been in black squares, the crowd went wild. There were people patting Spike on the back and congratulating Willow from all sides.

Willow suddenly found all the attention unnerving, but was saved when Spike used the back of a knuckle to raise her face to look at the things hanging from the walls and ceiling of the booth. "Pick one, Red."

Willow grinned and tossed the trash she'd been holding into the bin next to the booth. Pointing to the back corner above the vender's head, she grinned. "I want that one."

"The red bear?"

"Yes, please."

The woman retrieved the bear using a long pole with a hook at the end, handing the bear to Willow with a smile. "I think he deserves a kiss for that one."

Spike's lips settling over her own cut off Willow's protest. _Lips of Spike. Yeah, they taste fine to me. _

The softness of the kiss was interrupted by a cheer from the crowd, and Willow pulled back just after it began. "Thank you."

"No, thank you, pet." Spike chuckled as he guided Willow, whose arms barely circled the middle of the stuffed animal, through the crowd and back to the car. "Only someone from the bloody Hellmouth would pick out a red bear with devil horns and wings."

"It reminds me of you."

"Not bloody likely!" Spike was grinning, despite his words, as he watched Willow secure the animal in the back seat of the car with a belt.

"It's okay, Spike." Willow shut the door and wrapped her arms around Spike in a hug that she put all her strength into. "I won't tell anyone that you're really a cuddle vamp."

Willow was laughing at Spike's warning growl when she caught movement from the corner of her eye. A boy of nine or ten had started across the street against the light. As she watched, a deep blue sports car sped towards the boy, now frozen in fear.

"Stop!" Willow threw herself away from Spike at the same time she put a hand out to the car.

Suddenly, the car was suspended two feet off the ground inches from the boy's shaking body. The kid seemed to shake himself, looked around at the people watching, and took off back the way that he'd come. With a sigh from Willow, the car was set back on the asphalt, where it continued its skid another five feet.

"Oh, goddess," Willow's broken whisper seemed to snap Spike into action. Before she could get another word out, she was pushed into the car. Spike slid into the driver's seat a moment later, and then they were out of the parking lot and away.

"You okay, Willow?"

"That boy could have died." As an afterthought, Willow cocked her head to the side. "You used my name."

"So?"

"I'm just used to hearing `pet', `luv', or `Red'. That's all." Willow was looking out her window at the nighttime world of the small city they were moving through. Her voice sounded small, confused, but she couldn't make it come out right. "I like the way it sounds when you say it."

"I'll remember that." Spike winked at her when she looked over at him. "Let's get you home."

"I'm hungry."

Spike nodded, though Willow thought it was more to himself than to her statement. "Do you want to stop somewhere and go in, or take it back to the room?"

"Just something I can eat in the car is fine. I'm just suddenly starving."

"Well, stopping that car must have taken a lot out of you." Spike moved the car into the drive thru of the first fast food place they came to. "You want a burger and fries?"

"Yes. Oh, and a thing of iced tea."

Spike ordered, making sure to get Willow extra ketchup for her fries and lots of sugar for the tea before pulling back onto the main road. The trip home took longer this time; Willow secretly glad that Spike decided to follow the speed limit.

"You go on up, Red." Spike helped her out of the car and moved to unbuckle the bear from its seat in the back. "I'll get junior here and your tea."

Willow nodded mutely and slowly climbed the stairs to the door.

Spike beat Willow to the end of the hall, easily taking the key already in her hand and opening the oak door. Willow barely brought herself to smile and pull her new bear into her arms. She was exhausted, and could only focus on the thought of the warm bed waiting for her at the top of the stairs.

_These things weren't this long when we left... I wonder who came in and did it while we were out._ Willow almost stumbled on the iron steps, silently grateful for the strong arm that was suddenly supporting her from behind. Her mind didn't register it when her feet left the ground and she was wrapped in the complete set of strong arms. _Was probably a demon. Stupid step growing demons. Wonder if they'll still be this long when we go home in the morning?_

"What's wrong with me, Spike? I shouldn't have been able to do that."

Spike sat her down on the edge of the bed, holding on to her arms to ensure that she stayed upright. He began untying her shoes, managing to get one off before the redhead fell back with a yawn. "I don't know what's goin' on with you, pet. Maybe you shouldn't think about it tonight and just be happy that you saved the boy."

"It's not just the car thing." Willow rubbed the back of her hand against her eye. "I've made myself go from one place to another without even trying and sent Buffy to the Magic Box with a little effort. That's just not how magic works! Have you noticed that I start smelling weird when I get mad? That's not even mentioning the sparks that go on with my hair!"

Spike pulled the now sobbing redhead into his arms, settling her against his chest. "I don't know what's happening, pet, but we'll figure it out. Both watchers are on it, and you *know* how those blokes get all excited about research. There's nothing we can do about it tonight, so just let it go."

"I can't!" Willow pushed herself from the bed and snatched her nightgown from the back of the chair where she'd left it that morning. "Something's happening to me, something big, and I'm scared."

Spike was suddenly in front of her, making Willow gasp slightly and step back. The vampire advanced as she retreated, quickly closing the distance between them with his longer strides. Willow couldn't help but focus on the darkening eyes of her pursuer before watching as his tongue moved to wet his lower lip.

There wasn't enough time to think as he drew her into the circle of his arms and lowered his soft lips to her own. Willow could do nothing but sigh into Spike's mouth and let him deepen the kiss. The room dissolved into darkness as her eyes slid closed and she became absorbed in the feeling of Spike's mouth, his body, against her own.

The soft growl of Spike's approval snapped Willow back to reality, and she pulled away from his embrace. "We can't, Spike."

"Why not?" The look of bewilderment in the blonde's eyes was all too quickly replaced by something Willow didn't want to name. "Am I not good enough to kiss you?"

"No, Spike. It's not like that! I-"

"You can be my friend when you need one, but you don't want me to touch you. That it?" Spike had retreated a few feet away from her, but Willow could almost feel the anger coming off of him in waves. "Or is it that I'm not attractive enough for you?"

"You _know_ that's not it, Spike!"

"Then you don't want me to touch you. A vampire isn't good enough for the best friend of a slayer."

"You're more than good enough for me! Hell, you're too good for me!" Willow, seeing that Spike was watching her, plowed on with the halting explanation. "I... I just... I don't want to get hurt, Spike. I d-don't want to be Rebound Girl."

"So you just don't want me." Spike chuckled to himself and shook a cigarette out of his battered pack. "Admit it, Red."

"I _do_ want you, Spike! Don't you get it, you stupid vampire? I want you so much that my mouth goes all dry and my palms get sweaty from just being in the same _room_ as you! The thought of you being with Buffy hurt me, physically, because I knew that she was going to end up hurting you and I couldn't do anything about it! You're attractive. . . dangerously attractive, smart, funny, and more caring than any other guy I've ever known! I just don't want to be a girl who happens to be around when you're low. I want to be everything to you. Not a convenience."

Spike inhaled off of his Marlboro and snuffed the almost new cigarette out. "You're more than a convenience, pet. You're the best friend I've ever had, and I wouldn't hurt you."

"I know you wouldn't, Spike. Not on purpose." Willow moved to put her hand on Spike's arm, sighing when he stepped closer and brought his forehead to rest on her shoulder. "I just can't be hurt again. I _can't_! When we go home tomorrow, I don't want you to forget about me when Buffy comes back."

"Buffy can find someone else to push around, and there's no way I'm forgettin' you, luv." Spike wrapped his arms around Willow's waist.

"Let me hold you, Red?" The pleading in Spike's voice made Willow's breath catch in her throat. "Just for tonight?"

"Please, Spike. Please just hold me."

Spike brought Willow back to her bed, pulling his boots off before sliding under the coverlet. He settled behind her, an arm around her waist. The last sounds Willow heard as she drifted off to sleep were Spike's whispered words of assurance that she would be fine, that he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

Willow woke late the next afternoon to the sound of Spike singing softly as he moved about in the kitchenette. The fresh smell of bacon was the second thing to reach Willow's slowly waking senses. She could hear the soft popping of grease in the pan, smiling when she realized that the blonde was making her breakfast.

"I know you're awake over there, Red. Get that cute butt up and get your shower. Breakfast will be done in a few."

Willow nodded before she remembered that he couldn't see her from his spot in front of the stove. "Okay. I'm moving."

Her shower was finished in half of her normal time, and Willow was in the kitchen fifteen minutes after leaving the bed. Her damp hair hung down her back, wetting her shirt so the worn cotton clung to her like a second skin. Spike's only response to her hurrying was a grin and a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Willow grinned, ruining the irritated tone of her voice. "I'm hungry."

"Didn't say anything, pet."

"You were thinking something though."

"I was thinking of how nice it would be to be that shirt about now."

Willow nearly choked on the juice Spike had put in front of her along with her plate. She could feel the blush staining her face, and cursed her light skin before changing the subject. "So, we're leaving after my ritual, right?"

"Smooth, Red." Spike only chuckled and stole a strip of bacon from her plate. "Everything's packed. Just need your last minute things put in, and we're on our way."

Willow nodded and finished her breakfast.

Spike washed the dishes and put them away while Willow went through her vision ritual and then packed the last of her things. She made sure to place Junior, as Spike insisted on calling her new bear, safely on top of her suitcase before informing the blonde that she was ready to leave. Spike went over the entire room three times to make sure they hadn't left anything important, making Willow wonder if he also had some sort of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as well as ADD, as Xander claimed.

Willow carried only her bear down the steps, once again bowing to Spike's need to `be a bleedin' gentleman' and letting him carry her bags as well as his own. She told the human-looking clerk in the office that she wanted to tell Keemara good-bye, but was told that the newly engaged woman hadn't gotten out of bed yet. Spike chuckled along with the middle-aged woman while Willow wrote out a message for the blue demon, telling her how happy she was for her, and that she loved staying at the Blue Shell.

The ride home seemed to stretch on forever, and the companions were both happy when Willow's house came into view on the quiet evening street.

Spike pulled the blanket from over the back windows and grinned at Willow. "Home again, home again, and all that rot."

"Somehow I don't remember `all that rot' being in the rhyme." Willow giggled when Spike growled playfully at her imitation of his accent.

"Should have been there all along," Spike stepped from the car into the confines of the garage and took the bags from Willow's hands. "Can't help that it had to be improved on, now can I?"

"No, Spike," Willow rolled her eyes at his back and followed him into her home. "Can't help that at all."

"Knew you'd see it my way, luv."

Willow only laughed and went to check the messages on her machine. After one from her mother saying that she and Willow's father weren't going to be making it back to Sunnydale until autumn at the earliest and two hang-ups, Willow heard Buffy's voice entreating Spike to `pick up the phone'. Spike came down the steps and hit the `next' button without listening to the rest of the message meant for him. Willow was so busy smiling at the vampire's wicked smirk that she nearly missed the sound of Giles' voice asking her to call him when she found a moment.

Willow erased the tape and picked up the phone to call the watcher. "Did you find out something?"

If Giles was surprised by the abrupt question without a preamble, he didn't show it. "I'd like for you to come over as soon as you can, Willow. I need to talk to you about a few things, and I'd really rather do it in person."

"Okay, Giles," the shaking in her voice bothered her, but Willow kept her lip from trembling. "We'll be there in a few minutes."

"We?"

"Spike and I."

"Yes, very good. I'll see you soon."

"Bye." Willow tried to sound like her happy self when she disconnected, but found herself sniffling into Spike's chest as he held her once again.

"Not gonna find anything by standin' here, Willow."

"I know," Willow sighed and moved away from the blonde as she found her jacket and checked to be sure that her `Hellmouth Survival Kit' of a few stakes, a squirt gun of holy water, and a cross was in place. "Let's get this over with."

Spike nodded and followed her into the growing night.

Ten minutes later, Willow was pushing the door to the watcher's apartment open. "We're here, Giles!"

"Good to see you're doing well." Giles fixed a reproachful gaze on the redhead. "We were worried that something had happened to you until Xander saw that your suitcase and some of your clothing were missing."

Willow winced at her carelessness. She hadn't even thought to call Giles before they had left, just focusing on getting Spike as far away from Buffy as she could at the time. "I'm so sorry! I can't believe I didn't think to call you."

"Just try not to forget to call someone the next time you decide to leave town, hmm?"

The look she was given spoke more than the words could ever convey, and Willow found herself nodding. "Got it."

Giles nodded and motioned them to sit down. "I've got to tell you, Willow, that I've exhausted all of my resources. I haven't been able to find anything on your situation."

"W-What?" Willow began worrying her lower lip. "Giles, I-"

"I've been talking with Wesley every day, and he still has more than a few avenues open to him. We haven't stopped looking, Willow, but I can't think of anywhere else to seek out the information we're looking for. Wesley has quite a few more contacts within the Watcher's Council, and is using them to the best of his ability."

Willow nodded and took a deep breath, letting it out in a slow hiss between clenched teeth. "I think I'm going to turn in my paper and then see how soon I can take my exams. I have to do something, or I'll go mad just thinking about all the things that have been happening to me."

"I'll let Wesley know that you will be visiting within a few weeks, then." Giles smiled at the young woman in front of him. "Would you like some tea? I would like to hear where you have been the last few days."

Willow smiled in thanks and began telling Giles of their stay at the Blue Shell and all that went on that weekend.

Willow came through the door later than usual on Wednesday, smiling at Spike's sleeping form stretched out on the couch. It had been a good day, and she hummed softly to herself as she shed her jacket and book bag. She didn't want to wake the vampire, but knew that he would not be happy if she let him sleep without telling him what was going on.

"Spike?" Willow ran long fingers through Spike's soft hair and giggled when he purred and rubbed against her skin. "Time to wake up."

"Don't wanna," one blue eye drifted open to take in the redhead. "Home early, then?"

Willow shook her head and chuckled. "Spike, it's nearly four o'clock! I'm almost two hours late; not early."

"Bugger," Spike rubbed a large hand over his face. "Get your school all squared away?"

"Yep. I've got History and Rhetoric of Cyberspace on Friday. I'll be taking my Women in Literature exam on Monday. After that, I'm good to leave until graduation. If I want to walk through, that is."

"We'll worry about that when it gets here, luv. Want to do your ritual before we find something for dinner?"

"Sounds good. Want to man the incense for me?"

"I got ya covered, Red." Spike stretched and moved to the supplies Willow had left sitting after her morning ritual.

Willow could tell that the blonde loved to watch her as she worked spells or performed her rituals, and had begun including him whenever she could. Most of the time, like now, that meant that he sat quietly and sprinkled incense on the glowing charcoal. He insisted that he'd much rather watch than try anything when Willow had pressed him to join in an actual spell, so she let him do as he pleased.

Her mind let itself open as soon as she centered herself, letting her know that it had been too long since the ritual that morning.

{"How dare you!" Buffy paced in front of Spike's fallen body. "I can't believe that you would just take her away for a weekend without even considering what I would think!"

"I don't bloody well care what you think!" The vampire's voice was quiet, more muffled than Willow was used to, but she couldn't see his face and assumed that he was speaking with it pressed to the floor. "You used to tell me that I was below you. Now, I'm starting to think that maybe you had that backwards."

With a cry of rage, the slayer kicked at Spike's knee.}

Willow slammed back into her body with a gasp of pain that she somehow knew the Spike in her vision wasn't going to let out. She could feel a tear slipping over her cheek, hurriedly wiping at it as she finished her ritual.

"You okay, luv?"

Willow knew with an odd certainty that she couldn't tell Spike what she had seen. The vampire would go and pick a fight with the blonde slayer, and she didn't want to be on the sidelines for that one. "I... I think I'm just tired. I saw... something... but I couldn't hang on to it."

"Youre brain hasn't adjusted to everything that's happening is all." Spike kissed the top of Willow's head and slid the ritual components back into the bag Willow had been keeping them in. "You need to rest."

"Yeah."

"I'm going."

Willow felt her heart stop before raggedly slamming against her ribs. He was leaving just like that? No explanations or long rants about the unfairness of his unlife? Willow fought to hold back her sniffles. "You are?"

"No way in hell I'm lettin' you go off to LA and Angelus without at least comin' along."

"You're coming with me?"

"What? Thought I was just up and leaving town?" Spike laughed at her sheepish nod and pulled her into a tight hug. "I wouldn't do that to you Willow. Not without an amazing sodding excuse. Besides, I'm fond of you, pet. Not going to leave you behind."

"Good," Willow nodded resolutely to herself as she blushed. /He's fond of me. Spike's fond of me! He just said so./

"I think I'm going to return the books I borrowed from Giles, okay?"

"Can we get a pizza too, luv?"

"I think that can be arranged." Willow grinned at the vampire and gathered the two large tomes before heading out the door and into the night.

Willow walked through the front door of her house half an hour later, having ordered the pizza before going to visit the watcher and the rest of the Scoobies at the Magic Box. Willow had figured out over the last week that Spike insisted on eating dinner so that he could be certain that she ate at all. It still felt odd to eat regularly at six every evening, but Spike always insisted on it, so she had gathered the pizza and stopped by Willy's Bar to get some of the `good stuff' as a special treat for her vampire roommate.

"Honey! I'm... Oh, Goddess." The calling on her goddess was a soft plea as Willow rounded the corner into the living room and dropped the box she was carrying along with the bags of blood.

Her eyes took in the sight, but her mind wasn't processing what they saw. There were only bits and pieces before her brain caught up and she was able to actually see what it was she was being told was there.

The television was lying in a pool of glass on the floor, the entertainment center that had housed it nothing more than a pile of wood. The stereo with its large speakers and CD player had been thrown across the room, now resting in a broken heap on the tattered remains of the couch. The DVD player looked to be intact, though it rested on its side between the couch and the overturned and shattered coffee table.

Willow stood still only long enough to take in the destruction of the room before turning to glance over the clean kitchen and sprint up the steps. "Spike!"

No one answered, and Willow became more and more frightened as she went from room to room. The rest of the house had been left undisturbed. Nothing was out of place until she came to her bedroom.

The room still housed her computer and laptop along with her stereo, and none of the bookcases had been raided. The only thing that wasn't right was sitting in the middle of the room; looking innocent and sweet at the same time it scared her more than the destruction in the room below.

Her bed, still made with its flowered duvet and soft pillows looked as if giant claws had ripped into it. Bits of stuffing from the bed mingled with shreds from the ruined quilt, reminding Willow of the aftermaths of many of her own fights against various demons when their blood would be splattered over her clothes. Her eyes darted around the room as she backed toward the door, and that's when she saw it.

There, in a thin line leading from the bed to the door, was a copper trail that glistened in the soft light from her lamp. Willow didn't need to see any more to know that it was blood. Somehow, she knew that it was Spike's.

"Spike?" Willow had moved back to the living room on autopilot. "Oh, where are you?"

A flash of lavender caught the witch's eye, and her breath stopped. A strip of cotton, no more than a few inches in length, hung from a jagged piece of the twisted frame of the wood and glass coffee table.


	9. Chapter 9

Willow ran through the front door of the Magic Box and barely stopped herself from falling down the steps inside the door. She took in the people sitting at the table, noting the absence of Buffy and Dawn. "Where is she?"

Anya looked up from counting her till at the edge in the witch's voice. "Buffy?"

"Yeah, Buffy." Willow felt an odd tingling shooting up the backs of her legs and down the column of her spine as if the earth and sky were trying to force energy into her body, but ignored it in favor of leveling a steely look on Xander and Giles. "Know where she is?"

"Haven't seen her since I picked Dawn up for school this morning." Xander's voice gave away his fear of the look in Willow's eyes, and she instantly felt sorry.

"Sorry, Xan. Didn't mean to go all scary on you."

"Nothing big, Wills." The boy's body had relaxed when she favored him with one of her soft smiles. "I've seen worse from my dad."

"Buffy was to meet us here after she got off work, but she hasn't made it here. Is there a problem, Willow?" Giles' face was lined with worry.

"Spike's missing."

"Missing?" Xander looked out the window. "The sun is just now going down."

"That's only one of the reasons I'm worried."

"What happened, Willow?" Anya pressed a warm cup of tea into Willow's hand and led her over to the table. "What's gotten you so worked up?"

"My living room was trashed. I'm talking TV and stereo wrecked, and furniture broken beyond repair. My bed has been slashed to ribbons and there's blood on my floor. Not a lot of blood, but a line of it." Willow pulled the scrap of material from the pocket of the leather duster she'd found still hanging in the closet. "I found this caught on the coffee table."

"Looks like something Buffy would wear." Xander scowled at the offending material as if it had done something wrong. "She's got a thing for lavender."

"Well, that's because she looks good in it." Willow shrugged and looked at Giles for help. "Do you think she would have gone after him? She left a message for him over the weekend, but he erased it without even listening to it."

"Spike has made quite a few enemies among the demons since he started helping us. I wouldn't rule any of them out in favor of suspecting one of our own."

"You're right," Willow felt some of the anger she had been feeling replaced with worry that something they wouldn't know how to track was behind the vampire's disappearance. "I'm just scared. I brought those books here, stopped for pizza, then stopped for blood. When I got home, the living room was trashed and Spike's nowhere to be found."

"You got pizza and blood?" Xander visibly shuddered at the thought.

Willow would have laughed at Xander's disgusted expression if she hadn't been so annoyed with the group's lack of action. "It's not as if I'm eating the blood, although Spike does dip the crusts."

"Okay, that's just icky." An almost bell like voice spoke from the top of the steps.

"Buffy, where have you been?" Anya was doing a rather convincing impersonation of Joyce from her spot in Xander's lap. "We can't find Spike. Know where he is?"

"Haven't got a clue." Buffy let her eyes linger on Willow's dejected form. "I got stuck at Dawn's school for some kind of older sister/ teacher conference. Was not of the fun, let me tell you."

"So, you haven't seen Spike?"

"No, though it's not on my top ten things to do, either."

"We can't just sit here. We have to do something." Willow chewed at her lip, hoping that Giles would agree with her. If the watcher said to do something, the rest of the group would at least go along with it for a few hours.

"I'll check the cemeteries on the North side of town, maybe beat up on Willy." Buffy sounded almost bored as she laid out a plan of action. "Xander and Anya can take the East. Since the South side and the West don't have as many cemeteries and demon hidey-holes, Wills can probably handle it on her own. Even if whatever this is isn't a threat to humans, we should stop it before anyone else comes home to a wrecked house."

Willow only nodded in reply.

It was just after dawn when the redhead stumbled out of the last cemetery on her `list' for the third time. She had combed the six plots of burial ground three times each, and found nothing for her trouble. Not even a strand of platinum hair or the lingering smell of tobacco and leather. Willow was certain Spike hadn't set one combat booted foot in any cemetery that night.

She'd stopped by the Magic Box to learn that no one else had found anything. Anya and Xander offered to stay out, but Willow knew they had work in the morning and had sent them on home with thinly veiled assurances that Spike would be fine. Buffy had simply come in long enough to inform Willow and Giles that she hadn't found anything, and that Willy knew less than he normally did, before announcing that she had to get home to meet Dawn when the younger Summers got in from a study session with her friends.

"Where could you be, Spike?" Willow pulled the comforting weight of Spike's coat tighter around her small frame as she walked. "I can't think of anywhere else you could be."

_Talking to yourself, Willow. Can't be a good sign._

Willow's thoughts changed direction as she turned a corner and moved slowly down a familiar street. _Well, what do you expect when something may or may not have happened to someone I love? _

The redhead stopped. Her feet simply refused to move down the sidewalk. The breeze that had been gently ruffling her hair was still. The songs of the birds, moments ago sounding from the trees and the wires crisscrossing the neighborhood, were no longer easily picked out amid the muffled humming in Willow's ears.

_I love Spike . . . Oh, Goddess. I love Spike._ Willow seemed to become lighter with the realization, even as her stomach curled in on itself in a myriad of new feelings and questions. _I have to find him! He doesn't know!_

"Willow?"

Willow's head snapped up and she moved quickly to the side of her friend. "Dawn? What are you doing here?"

"This is Nancy's house."

Willow took in the houses surrounding her, just now realizing that she had been walking down the sidewalk that would lead her in front of the slayer's home. "Isn't it a little early for a study session?"

"I spent the night."

"What?"

"I spent the night here last night." Willow loosened her grip on the younger girl's arms when a not so subtle look of concern was directed at them by Dawn's friend. "Buffy said I could so that I could spend more time studying for my finals. She said it was okay, I promise!"

"It's okay, Dawnie." Willow smoothed a piece of hair back from the younger girl's face. "I'm just tired and I guess I overreacted."

"That's okay. I'm going with Nancy and her mom to the mall. Want us to drop you off somewhere?"

"Wow, spending the night with a friend and skipping school to hit the mall. That must have been some good sibling/ teacher conference."

"What conference?"

Willow held Dawn's eyes with her own. "Didn't Buffy have a conference with your teacher yesterday?"

"Nnnnno," Dawn turned her head to the side and fixed Willow with a confused frown.

"Are you okay? Are you *sure* we can't take you home or something?"

Willow glanced over at the car sitting in the drive, offering a small wave to the girl waiting for Dawn. "No. No, I'll be fine."

The younger girl looked unconvinced until Willow draped an arm around Dawn's shoulders in an attempt to assuage the younger girl's obvious unease. "I must be more tired than I thought. I could have sworn Buffy said something about it last night. Oh well, I think I'm gonna grab something for breakfast and then get some rest. Have fun, okay?"

Dawn nodded and hugged the redhead tightly before skipping over to the car. "Bye Wills!"

Willow returned the huge smile with one of her own before turning away and winding her way through the alleys. There was only one place in Sunnydale that Willow could think of to hold a vampire captive.

_Crawford Street, here I come._

The sun was glinting through the trees, burning off the last of the pink dawn, when Willow rounded the corner onto Crawford Street. The mansion sat at the end of the street, a silent sentinel for so many memories. In a town full of people who seemed to have more money then they had brain cells, Willow had always wondered at the mansion's continued emptiness. Even with the repairs that would have been necessary, the large house should have been snapped up years before Spike and Druscilla had made it their home.

Willow pulled Spike's duster as tight as she could around her slight frame and fought her way past the nearly waist high weeds framing the once beautiful lawn. She didn't know where Buffy was and didn't want to risk the blonde seeing her if she could help it. The witch didn't know how or when, but Buffy had let her mind go too far. This was far from 'not right'. This was monstrous.

The back of the stone structure came into view, and Willow pressed herself to the crumbling garden wall and listened. She couldn't hear anything from inside the house, the world outside seeming to fade into nonexistence as she focused on the house in front of her, but she was fearful of getting too close. The wall, and what little protection it offered, deliquesced into rubble nearly ten feet from the vine covered hole in the back of the mansion. If she moved any closer than what she was at the moment, Willow would be in full view of anyone who happened to look in her direction.

After several minutes of silent contemplation, Willow leaned forward and nearly screamed at the loud rustling of the coat against the untended flowerbeds. Throwing herself back against the wall, Willow listened once again. The hammering of her heart was all that sounded in her ears, but Willow stood against the wall until the thudding had dulled. There was still no movement, and Willow decided to try again.

"Okay, Willow," the witch whispered to herself as she pulled the coat off as slowly and quietly as possible. "Be as quiet as Angel in stealth mode. Think vampire."

With a deep breath to try and steady her nerves, the redhead slid down the wall to sit on the ground. She was increasingly glad that she'd worn pants to school the day before as the thorns of a nearly wild rosebush caught in the thick denim material covering her legs. She took little more care with her arms than legs, and winced as she repeatedly felt the hot pain that accompanied the needle-like pricks to her hands and arms. She didn't stop the slow downward movement until she was lying on her stomach on the hard earth. Trying to remember every war movie she'd been forced to sit through with Jesse and Xander as a child, Willow crawled forward.

_Where would he be?_ Willow slid slowly through the bracken, having decided that moving slowly was better if it meant that she went undetected. She came to the low wall formed by the crumbled rock and moved to lay with it along her front. _First, worry about getting into the house. One step at a time._

Minutes seemed to stretch into hours as Willow once again focused on hearing any movement from inside. After deciding that she'd listened long enough, she pushed her scratched and slightly bleeding hands into the ground and raised herself in a kind of modified pushup. She stopped only when one eye was gazing over the wall and into the house, and then all caution was forgotten as she cried out in fright.

There, hanging from one of the light fixtures set into the wall, was Spike.

Willow was at his side, and horrified at what she saw, without feeling the floor beneath her feet. The now familiar stench of drying blood surrounded Spike's still body, nearly gagging Willow as she fought down the sobs threatening to spill from her throat. If the vampire had been human, Willow had no doubt that he would be dead.

Spike's white blonde hair was stained a bright red from the blood still trickling from his left temple. There were angry slashes of red criss-crossing the firm chest visible through the tattered remains of his black t-shirt. The fingers of his graceful hands reminded Willow of the time Xander's dad had slammed the boy's hand in a car door. The manacles holding the vampire's weight had long since cut into the flesh of his wrists, causing rivulets of blood to run down Spike's arms.

"Oh, Goddess," the sobs finally won as Willow focused on the metal bands holding Spike captive. "I've got you, Spike. I'm here." After four tries, Willow was able to focus her power and open the offending bindings.

It wasn't until Spike's full weight had bared her to the floor that Willow realized something was wrong with his legs. The denim covering the vampire's flesh kept her from seeing what it was, but she knew that it had to be bad to make that wet popping sound as she clumsily moved him. Stealing herself for whatever was to come, Willow used a hole in the fabric of his right pant leg to rip the material from just above to ankle to just above his knee.

"Ugh!" Willow threw herself away from Spike's still body, barely managing to make it three feet away before her stomach heaved.

_Broken. His leg is broken_. Willow wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand, unconsciously smearing the vampire's blood across her face. _If one's like that, then the other one probably is, too. She broke his legs. _

Even with her limited knowledge of the human bone structure, Willow could tell that his leg had been broken and then pushed back together haphazardly. The jagged ends of the bone jutted out from just below his knee, though the gashes in his leg told Willow that they had been at an even more awkward angle. Tears slipped over her cheeks even as she told herself there wasn't time to sit and cry.

_You can cry for his pain later, Willow. Right now, you have to get him out of here before Buffy comes back._

"Spike." Willow patted the side of the demon's face, his true face having come out with the pain of being moved, and tried to wake him up. "Come one, Spike. You have to wake up."

"Go 'way." The murmured reply brought a small, unbidden smile to Willow's face. Any response was a good response at this point.

"No, Spike. You have to wake up! We have to get out of here before Buffy gets back!"

"Buffy!" Spike seemed to snap back to reality at the mention of the slayer's name, and he tried to sit up only to be pushed back by Willow's gentle hands. "Bitch trashed your house."

"I'm more worried about you than my house, Spike." Willow nodded at his legs, now both exposed to the air of the room. "Your legs are broken."

"Thought I felt that happen."

"You're awfully calm about it."

Spike grinned up into Willow's concerned eyes. "Angelus did that a time or two, though he usually rubbed salt or alcohol into the cuts. I think it bugged the bitch that I didn't so much as whimper. Help me set 'em?"

"O-Okay..." Willow rubbed her hands along the wet material of her blood-spattered jeans. "What do I do?"

"I can do all the work. I just need you to hold above my ankle and not let that part move. Think you can do it?"

"We have to get out of here, so yeah, I think I can." Willow winced as she grasped Spike's right calf and shin and felt him reposition the bones correctly. "You didn't... didn't make a sound when she did this?"

Spike waited until he had finished with both legs before answering. "Not a peep, luv. Wouldn't give her the satisfaction. How did you know it was Buffy?"

The sudden change in subject threw Willow for a moment. "There was a piece of cloth stuck on the remains of the coffee table. I saw it and just... I knew."

Spike nodded and looked through the vines at the back of the house. "How we gettin' out of here, pet? I'm thinking that you didn't drive here."

Willow only shook her head and wrapped trembling arms around the blonde's waist as she pictured her bedroom. There was an odd itching along her arms and legs before there was nothing. Just as suddenly, the world reappeared to reveal the embracing pair sitting on the carpet beside Willow's ruined bed.

"Nice trick, pet." Spike's grin could only be described as proud.

Willow couldn't contain the tired giggle that escaped her mouth as the vampire slipped, once again, into unconsciousness.

Willow spent the next hour force-feeding Spike five pints of blood, not even noticing when some of it got on her already stained clothes, and packing Spike's things into the back of the Desoto. She wasn't surprised to find that the trunk of the car did indeed hold all of the cargo she had planned on taking with room left over. Making a mental note to mention it to Spike if he started getting testy on the drive, Willow ventured once more to her bedroom.

The blankets Willow had tacked up over the windows to keep the sun from hurting the vampire kept the room in perpetual twilight, and she had to blink rapidly to bring the vampire lying on the ruined bed into focus. He hadn't moved since she had roused him long enough to gulp down the blood she'd heated and brought to him. The demon's face was still to the fore, and she had to put her fist in her mouth to keep from laughing at the sight.

There, lying on his back, Spike was sucking his thumb.

"Spike," Willow's giggles made it hard for her to speak and she dissolved in a heap of laughter beside the vampire. "Spike you need to wake up."

"Why do I have to keep tellin' you to go away?"

"Because I keep caring enough about you to wake you up. Now, let's move!"

"Why the hurry?"

"You really want to be here if Buffy decides to come looking for you?" Willow stood beside the bed and pulled on Spike's arm until he swung his legs over the side. Sliding an arm around his waist, Willow managed to stand him up and help him to the top of the stairs.

Spike groaned when he saw the steps that led to the foyer. "Why can't you just do that thing where we just go where you want us?"

"Because I'm still tired from the last time. You do want to go somewhere once we get to the car, right?"

"Where we headed, anyway?" Spike winced and grunted with each step down. "Hope it's somewhere good."

"We're going somewhere safe."

Willow was happy that Spike was silent after that. She didn't think she could have made it down the stairs supporting both of their weights if she had to talk. They made it to the car and Willow managed to get Spike into the passenger seat without him making too much of a big deal of it.

She draped the quilt she had brought from the living room couch over his body. "Go back to sleep now."

"You know you've got blood on you?"

"It's okay. I've had it on me before."

"Don't hurt my car." Spike's eyes were already closed.

Willow pressed a kiss of his cool cheek. "I'll take care of her."

Nearly three hours later, Willow let a sigh of relief pass her lips. They were close. Another twenty minutes, and Willow could get out of the car with its nearly impossibly dark windows. She flexed her fingers on the wheel, trying to work out the cramps that had set in just after leaving Sunnydale.

_Note to self: White knuckles on a steering wheel aren't a good thing._

Willow pushed the quilt down far enough to see that Spike was resting peacefully before heaving a sigh and sliding from the cool confines of the car and into the bright afternoon sunlight. The building before her did little to make her feel welcome.

"You have to do this, Willow. It's for Spike." Nodding to herself, Willow started across the street.

She wasn't sure if the trip from the car to the door was too long or far too short. Nothing about this decision sat well with her, but it was the only thing she could think of. Spike couldn't stay in town with Buffy on the loose and out for his blood, and she had to take those exams. She hadn't gone through all that she had to finish school only to not graduate because of a few stupid tests. With a sigh of resignation, Willow pushed at the door.

"Angel Investigations... Oh, hello Miss Rosenberg." Wesley had come around the desk when she first walked through the door, but stopped when he neared the center of the main lobby. "Are you quite alright?"

"No." Willow cleared her throat. "I-I need to see Angel."

"Are you hurt? You're covered in blood!"

"I _know_ I'm covered in blood!" The redhead felt her hair shifting in an impossible wind and tried to calm herself down. She hadn't realized until that moment that she had never done her morning ritual. "I need to see Angel, and I need to see him _now_!"

Just as she finished her statement, the elevator sounded and Angel emerged with Cordelia trailing behind. "- Madden boots that would help business considerably."

"Tell me again how a pair of boots is going to help out-" Angel caught sight of the small redhead standing at the top of the stairs. "Willow!"

Cordelia didn't see the redhead, and looked at Angel oddly. "They aren't going to help Willow. Willow's in-" the seer followed Angel's line of vision. "-the middle of our office. Willow, I don't know what people in Sunnydale are thinking, but that isn't a good look on anyone."

"It's not a 'look' Cordy. It's blood."

"Well, obviously."

"Is it that girl with the funny name again?" Fred stepped off the stairs with Gunn. "Is she dead again?"

"No, but that's only because she ambushed Spike in my living room."

"What?" Cordelia fished a clean shirt from behind the desk, pushed it back in the box, and dug out a t-shirt. "I thought her and Spike were chummy. Besides, isn't he fangless now?"

"Just because he's an indoor pet now doesn't mean he's fangless." Willow huffed at the brunette as she ducked behind the desk and slipped one shirt off and the other on. "And, apparently, he can hit Buffy."

"Bet that makes for some interesting evenings. Course, I've heard that vamps like pain." Gunn chuckled to himself, barely managing to duck the statue that smashed against the wall behind him. "Throwin' things with your mind, now?"

"I haven't done my ritual today. I found one of my best friends chained and beaten to a wall _with his legs broken_! Not only that, but all the beating and breaking was done by the girl who I brought back! I mean, a snake came out of my throat here, and she goes around hurting one of the few people that I can call a friend. How grateful is that? Put on top of that the fact that I've got exams tomorrow and Monday, have no clue what's going on with my magic, and have turned into some sort of cosmic coloring book, and you get one annoyed witch! Did I mention that I had to drive three hours in a car with windows that have been spray painted black?"

"Spike's here?" Cordelia squeaked and dove for the crossbow she kept within reach of the desk.

"He's in the car, but you won't need that. At least, not for a while."

"What's that mean?" Fred shrugged guiltily when everyone focused their attention on her. "The stories I've heard are scary. Why wouldn't she want to be armed?"

"Because that's Spike's blood." Angel strode across the lobby quickly, only to flinch and jump back when he hit the sunlight streaming through the front door.

Willow managed to throw a blanket over Angel's head before he gritted his teeth and threw himself out into the courtyard. "He's in the front."

"Am I to believe that Buffy has hurt him badly?"

Willow turned to the ex watcher and nodded before moving to hold the door open for the returning vampire. "He was taken from my house last night. I found him at the mansion on Crawford Street this morning. Buffy lied to me about being with her sister yesterday, and I only figured it out this morning when I ran into Dawn."

Angel hurried through the door just as the blanket slipped from the crown of his head and moved to climb the stairs leading to his room. "Gunn, Wesley, you two go get his things from the car."

Willow handed over the keys to Wesley with a sad smile. "It's all in the trunk. The coolers need to come upstairs so I can wake Spike up to feed him again."

Willow moved to Angel's apartment, following the soft sound of Angel's voice into the dark vampire's bedroom. The smaller blonde rested in the arms of his sire on the bed, Angel petting the platinum locks of his childe softly. Willow fought down the sobs that once again threatened, not even caring that tears spilled over her cheeks.

"I tried my hardest, Angel."

Angel's head snapped up at her voice and he motioned her closer. "It wasn't your fault, Willow. You've been a better friend to him in the last two years than I've been a sire in the last eighty." He chuckled darkly to himself. "Wasn't much of one before that."

"You can't change the past, Angel." Willow rested a hand on Angel's arm as she sat beside the two vampires on the bed and watched as Wesley and Gunn placed two coolers on the floor beside her feet. "You can only try to make things as good as they can be from here on out."


	10. Chapter 10

"Help me sit him up." Willow stood beside the bed holding three huge bowls of blood on a tray. "He swallows better upright."

"I remember," the dark vampire's voice was laced with worry and sadness, and Willow swallowed back a shuddering breath. "I've really let him down, haven't I?"

Willow decided that it was a rhetorical question, and so remained silent as she dipped the tip of a finger in the red liquid and formed a floating stream of blood to Spike's still lips. She smiled softly when the blonde began drinking in earnest, the soft slurping filling the otherwise silent room. What little color he possessed returned as he ate so that he appeared normal when he had finished.

"Well, that's the last of his supply." Willow wiped at Spike's mouth, ridding him of the last traces of blood.

"Not the last." Angel placed Spike under the covers before biting into his own wrist and holding it to his childe's mouth. "The blood of the sire heals all. Drink, childe."

Willow was turning toward the door with the empty bowls and tray when Spike's pink tongue flicked out to taste the offered wrist. Suddenly, she couldn't move. The room grew steadily warmer as Spike's demon came out to play, followed closely by Angel's.

The sight of sire and childe curled around each other caused something low in Willow's stomach to tighten. A pair of amber eyes framed by tousled pale hair snapped open and snapped her back to reality even as her legs turned to rubber. A soft chuckle from the bed followed the redhead from the room.

_Goddess help me. That was... Wow._

Willow rinsed the bowls in the sink before moving back down to the lobby where she found Lorne waiting with the rest of the team.

"Hi Lorne." Willow fished her purse from the pile of luggage sitting on the floor by the stairs. "Angel is looking after Spike, so I'm going to get home."

"You're leaving?" Wesley looked up from the books he was arranging into an impressively tall stack. "I thought that you would like to see the books I've been reading through."

"I wish I could." Willow rubbed at her eyes as she sunk down on the round sofa that dominated the center of the lobby. "But I have a three hour drive ahead of me if I'm going to make the two exams I have in the morning."

"Leavin' on me, Red?" Spike's voice caused Willow to jump, and the blonde smiled. "Not even going to say goodbye?"

"You shouldn't be moving yet! Angel, get him back upstairs."

"I'll not be shut away like some misbehaving child."

Willow winced at the harshness in Spike's voice. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just that you were so hurt."

Spike sucked his cheeks in and gave the rakish smile Willow had come to know meant that he was proud of himself. "Like I said before, pet. I didn't even whimper... I've had worse."

"Would you at least sit down? You're making me hurt in sympathy." Willow moved over and patted the cushion beside her.

Spike nodded and sank down on the plush seat with a slight sigh. "You still leavin'?"

"I have to, Spike." Willow smoothed a wayward curl away from the vampire's forehead. "I didn't spend all that time studying and killing myself to make it to classes dead tired from helping with demons the night before just to fail because of four exams."

"You'll be back day after tomorrow, right?"

"No. Monday night or Tuesday."

Spike froze with his lighter halfway to the end of his unlit cigarette to turn and look her in the eye. "You're staying in Sunnydale over the weekend?"

Willow gave short nod, once up and once down.

"In your house?"

Another nod.

"Without me there?"

Yet another nod, though this one was slower. Angel had begun glowering at her when she had said that she wouldn't be back until Monday or Tuesday. The sight sent a tremor down Willow's spine, and she tried to keep thoughts of Angelus from coming to mind.

"Not gonna happen."

"Yes, it is." Willow hated the hard finality in Spike's voice. "I'm not going to not graduate Spike."

"No, it isn't." Spike tossed the half burned Marlboro on the floor, obviously ignoring the annoyed looks and noises from the other people in the room. "You're not going. Not alone, at any rate."

"Who's going to come with me? You're not. Angel and Cordy need to stay close in case of a vision. Fred wouldn't stand a chance against Buffy, no offense." Fred simply smiled understandingly, and Willow went on with her argument. "Wesley has to stay and research if I'm ever going to figure out what's wrong with me. Lorne's more of a singer than a fighter."

"Aren't you sweet, cupcake." Lorne gave Willow one of his million watt smiles that she couldn't help but return.

"I can go." Gunn spoke up from where he was leaning against the counter. "I'm pretty much just extra muscle anyway."

Willow caught a rumbling growl from behind and turned to see Spike glaring at Gunn with glowing eyes. _What's he all growly about?_

"Cordy can go." Angel nodded to himself.

"The cheerleader?" Spike raised a scarred eyebrow in question.

The cheerleader in question snorted at Spike's incredulous near shout. "I was a lot more than just some cheerleader. I was **captain**."

Willow giggled at Cordelia before sticking her tongue out at the vampire sitting beside her. "She told you."

"Shut up, pet."

"Enough!" Angel shook his head at the two on the couch. "Willow, Cordelia will go home with you as long as you promise to call if anything should happen or there's a vision. That way, you'll have company and Spike will stop being so overprotective and jealous."

"Just don't want anyone gettin' any ideas is all."

"Sure, blondie." Cordelia had retrieved her purse from behind the counter and moved to the stairs. "I think I've got enough things here to get me through one weekend in good old Sunnydale. I'll pack and be down."

"Okay." Willow smiled at the girl who had become her friend since their days on the hellmouth. "We can grab something for supper on the way."

"Come here." Spike wrapped an arm around Willow and pulled her down the hall to the back of the hotel. He didn't stop nearly dragging her along until the sunlight from the back windows nearly touched his boots.

"Still don't like this, pet."

"Well, I'm not thrilled about it either." Willow was wishing that Spike would just let her leave, even though she knew that it didn't matter how soon she returned to her house. She couldn't leave until after her tests anyway. "I just know what I have to do and, whether we like it or not, I'm going to do it."

"I just don't want you hurt." Spike's arms surrounded her body, and Willow let herself sink into his borrowed warmth.

"I know. It's nice to know someone's worrying about me for a change, though I don't want to cause you to worry. Okay, I don't think that made any sense."

"Don't worry, luv. I understood." Pulling Willow tight against his chest so that their bodies made one fluid line, Spike kissed her deeply.

"Spike," Willow pulled back from the kiss just enough to be able to speak. "You **do** realize that my magic is stronger now, that I can defend myself, right?"

"Doesn't matter, pet. I don't want to be a room away from you. The thought of you being three hours away, without me to protect you, with that bitch of a slayer running around..." Spike sighed and pushed Willow's head to rest under his chin. "It's almost more than I can handle."

"You're going to make me cry if you keep being so sweet."

Spike chuckled. "Can't have that, or you might go running off to my sire."

Jerking away from Spike's body, Willow stood well within the circle of his arms and gazed into his eyes. "Why would you even say something like that?"

"Could smell you earlier. In the room."

"Well, it was pretty intense! I can't help it if seeing a beautiful vampire feeding his unspeakably attractive childe turned me on. I'm a young woman with hormones, and desires, and-" Willow's ramble was cut short as Spike once again pulled her into an intense kiss.

"Never said it was a bad thing, luv." Spike brushed a soft kiss over her lower lip. "Though you can get any thoughts of Brood Boy out of your mind. I'm not sharing. You're mine, Willow."

Willow turned her head to avoid the kiss Spike tried to initiate. "Say it again."

"That you're mine, or that I'm not sharing?"

"My name." Willow's eyes focused on Spike's reddened lips. "Say my name."

"Willow," Spike's eyes registered confusion.

"I love the way you say that." This time Willow pulled the vampire into a kiss, sinking her fingers in the hair at the back of his neck and going up on her tiptoes to crush his mouth to hers with all of her strength.

_Lips of Spike are definitely good things._ Willow soon lost the ability to form complete thoughts, and she sunk into the feelings Spike was evoking with his lips, teeth, and tongue.

Angel's black convertible hurtled down the highway. It had taken nearly an hour and some of the heaviest begging she had ever had to do, but Willow had eventually talked the dark vampire into letting her use his car. In the end, she had just told him of her white knuckles and not being able to see anything in the mirrors or out the windows of Spike's car. Angel had given her his keys when she made mention to Cordelia that driving the DeSoto in the afternoon was hard, but they wouldn't be able to see to make it back out of Sunnydale if it got dark before they could leave after her tests.

Fred had braided her hair to keep the wind from tangling it past repair, and Willow and Cordelia proclaimed themselves ready to leave. After a round of hugs from everyone, Willow had been subjected to a drawn out, and thoroughly enjoyable, goodbye from Spike. The blonde had pulled her into an intense kiss that consumed her so deeply that she didn't register Angel's voice until he was within a foot of their embrace. Spike had chuckled at her red lips and glassy eyes before running a hand over Willow's braided hair.

"Ever wonder about the old custom of women wearing their hair up except when they made love?" With that parting remark, whispered into her ear, Spike pushed her out the door of the hotel and into the growing evening.

Two hours into their drive, the girls stopped and got dinner at a drive thru. They didn't want to be on the road after dark if they could help it, and the sun was setting with them an hour away from home. Willow had called Angel to get instructions on putting the roof up. She wasn't going to drive on the hellmouth without some sort of protection over her head. Now the car and its two passengers slid through traffic with ease.

"So, you and Spike."

Willow groaned at Cordelia's obvious interest in the topic. "What about me and Spike?"

"'What about me and Spike?'" Cordelia imitated in an exaggeratedly innocent voice as she batted her lashes. "Please. You're in love with him. Don't deny it, because it's too plain for even you to miss. It's also easy to see that he's in love with you too.

"Now that the facts are established, just start with the details. I want to know everything from when you realized you were in love with him until now."

"I'm not going to deny that I'm in love with him, Cordy. I've liked him since he first showed up with Dru, though it was more of a 'he's dangerous and unattainable, so I can crush on him' thing than anything.

"After he got chipped and started helping us, I couldn't help but fall for him. We got to know each other, and I found that I had more in common with him than anyone else I knew. We would talk for hours, and he'd actually _listen_ to what I had to say. No, I'm not denying that I'm now completely in love with him."

"I'm hearing a 'but' in there." Cordelia checked that her door was locked before leaning against it to face Willow. "What's wrong?"

Willow sighed and worried her bottom lip. "Well, I just don't want to end up being a fling he has to get over Buffy."

"Buffy?" The seer straightened in her seat at that bit of news. "As in Angel's ex, the bitch of Sunnydale, she who makes Angel broody with just the mention of her name? **That** Buffy?"

"No need to go all hysterical, Cordy. And yes, '*that* Buffy'. Who else?"

"Oh." Cordelia only nodded and remained silent for the next half hour.

"Yeah, Sunnydale's still here." Cordelia looked over the town as they passed through it on the way to Willow's house. "Are you sure you can't do this some other time?"

"I wish I could, really I do, but I can't do that. I'm the one who talked my history professor into giving the exam on Friday for those of us who felt ready instead of just once next week."

The two were pulling Cordelia's two bags from the back of the car before another word was spoken. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad back there. I just hate being back here. Too many bad memories."

"It's okay. I knew what was bothering you." Willow led the way past the wreckage of the living room and up the stairs to her parents' room. "I figured you'd rather stay in here than in the guest room. Spike's been staying there, and what I couldn't pack for him is still sitting around."

"This will be fine." Cordelia caught sight of the blood stained mess that made up the covers and sheets of the bed. "Well, after we get rid of the blood, anyway."

"Sorry." Willow set the bag she carried on the floor beside the door and retrieved clean bedding from the closet in the hall. "I wasn't in the mood to clean before I left."

"Willow, it's fine."

Willow nodded and smiled at Cordelia's 'eep' of surprise when the pillows lifted into the air and began to shimmy out of their cases. The brunette stared at the sight before her as Willow made the bed without touching so much as a throw pillow. The quilt Willow's grandmother had made drew itself over the sheets and turned itself down before Willow relaxed and giggled.

"Cool, huh?"

Cordelia nodded and then broke out into a grin. "And so much more fun. From messing up spells to making a bed without really even trying. You're turning into super witch on us."

"The thing is, **I** don't even know how powerful I am now. I mean... I sent Buffy to the Magic Box by concentrating really hard. I moved Spike and I from the mansion to my bedroom, but I was really tired afterward. I'm a little freaked out by the burning smell that happens when I get mad, that's not mentioning the sparkage in my hair. It's like I could burst into flames and not even know it."

"Well, at least Wesley's still got some leads to follow." Cordelia led the way into the living room, watching as Willow once again tapped into her power to pick everything up and put it all back together. "That could come in handy."

"Yeah, I guess it could." Willow shrugged and sunk down onto the newly restored sofa.

"So, two tests tomorrow and two on Monday?"

"Yeah. After that, we're back to LA."

"How long are you two going to stay?"

"It's hard to tell when Spike will decide to take off. Me, on the other hand... I'm not sure *what's* going on with me, so I don't know what kind of timeline I'm on. All I know, is that I can't be around Buffy right now."

"I couldn't stand to be around her in the first place, but I get what you're saying."

Willow nodded slowly and then focused teary eyes on her friend. "I don't know if I want to be a Scooby anymore."

Friday came and went. Willow breezed through her first two exams, and was happy to say that both History and Rhetoric of Cyberspace were in the bag. The History had been easier than she had planned and, therefore, studied for. Her second 'exam' of the day saw her building a website in two hours from components supplied by the professor. All in all, it had been a good day.

She had placed a call to LA within minutes of returning home to find Cordelia washing up her lunch dishes. Spike had congratulated her on passing the tests, telling her that there was 'no bloody way' she could have failed when she tried to inform him that she didn't know what her actual scores were. Willow had only laughed and asked how he was feeling.

Saturday morning blew in with a deep red dawn heralding the storms to come. Just before ten, the sky grew dark and the wind began battering the trees that lined the street in front of Willow's house. Willow was glad they had been able to fit both cars in her garage. She didn't even want to *think* about what Angel would do if a stray limb found its way to his car. Not long after the wind appeared, fat drops of cool rain plopped onto the worn boards of the front porch. Soon, the rain was falling in thick sheets.

Cordelia had yet to make an appearance, though Willow's growling tummy told her it was nearly time for lunch, and she had to remind herself that the pretty brunette had different sleeping habits. While Willow could keep vampire hours, sleep for a while in the early mornings, and then be awake for the rest of the day without any problem, Cordelia obviously got her full eight hours. The witch thought of asking her why she needed to sleep so much, but thought better of it when she heard the other woman's voice in her head lecturing her on needing the sleep to look her best.

Willow heard the shower in her parents' room turn on and decided to fix some omelets. Breakfast for Cordelia, and lunch for herself.

Willow had retrieved a skillet from the drawer under the oven and was reaching to turn the burner on when the French doors leading from the kitchen to the back porch exploded in a shower of glass.

"Where is he?" Buffy was pulling at Willow's shirt before she could right herself. "I **know **you had something to do with it."

"He's asleep." Willow pushed Buffy's hands away from her and stepped back. The redhead winced when a searing pain lanced up her leg, knowing that her bare foot had found a shard of glass.

"I don't feel him. He can't be here." Blue eyes, devoid of the warmth and caring Willow had always associated with the small blonde, focused on green. "Where is he? Xander's? Giles'?"

"No. I've made it so he can't feel you and you can't feel him." Willow caught movement at the top of the stairs and saw Cordelia's head peaking around the corner. She chanced a quick shake of her head as Buffy looked into the living room, relieved when the brunette nodded and slipped back out of sight.

"You little bitch!" Buffy's open hand connected with Willow's cheek sharply, snapping the witch's head sharply to the right. "How **dare** you-"

Willow's eyes flashed a bright red and the room became nearly unbearably warm as she interrupted the diminutive slayer. "How dare **I**?! No, Buffy, how dare **you**? **You're** the one who came into **my**house uninvited after all the mean things you said and did. **You're** the one who took Spike against his will, chained him up, and then beat him and broke his legs!

"You've always been a little bit of a bitch, and usually kinda self-centered, but I've always loved you." Willow took a few steps toward Buffy, delighting that the blonde slayer took an equal amount of steps back. "You've been the best girl friend I've ever had, and one of my all-time best friends ever, but I don't know about that anymore. I've always stood by you, helped you, but I refuse to do it on this."

"As if it matters!" Buffy laughed sharply even as she turned to keep Willow's slowly circling form in front of her. "He won't want you, you know. He can't hit you, and there's no way you're going to let him take a nibble. You can't be much of a lay, otherwise Oz would have stayed. Hell, you aren't even much of a witch!"

The slight pain at the mention of Oz disappeared almost as soon as it set in. "I'm more of a witch than you are a slayer."

"I'm the oldest slayer in history."

"Without me and Xander, there's no way you would have lived this long. I mean, *hello*! Did you bring yourself back from the grave?"

"You dragged me out of heaven! How can you even call yourself my friend?!"

"I thought you were in hell! If I could do something to make it up to you, I would! You can't go taking it all out on Spike. Take it out on me!"

A sneer slid over the once pretty face of the slayer. "What do you think I'm doing?"

"That's what *I'd* like to know!"

The soft giggle that came from Buffy contrasted so badly with the look in her eyes that Willow found herself wondering if she had really heard it at all. "I started using Spike because he made me feel something. I hated him and how he made me feel, but it was something. I kept using him once I realized that it would hurt you, long before you found out about it. What better way to hurt you than to hurt the people you love most? I thought about Xander first, but then Spike just... fell into my lap."

"You were going to hurt Xander?" Willow shook her head in confusion.

"You've got it all wrong, Wills. I *am* going to hurt Xander. Then Giles. Then Anya. If there's one thing I learned over the years, it's that being thorough and picking off the people who mean the most to you one by one is worth the time and effort. I *need* Spike to be the first though."

A memory of fish strung on a line flickered in her mind, and Willow felt the air around her swirling with heat. The intense smell of copper was back, so strong that Willow could see Buffy's eyes watering where she stood several feet away. Beyond the slayer, Willow could see rain sheeting through the broken glass and soaking the carpet.

"Leave." The voice that came from her mouth didn't sound like her own.

"Tell me where he is, and I let Anya live." The blonde didn't move.

"Get out of my house." Willow's eyes flicked from Buffy to the door, and the blonde's feet began sliding over the carpet.

"Give me Spike." Buffy tried to dig the soles of her boots into the thick gray fibers and gave a frustrated grunt when it failed.

"Get out." With a shove of her hand, Willow sent Buffy out the way she had come. The glass littering the floor picked itself up and formed itself back into a single, seamless pane in the door.

Willow caught sight of Buffy running at the door through the window's glass. There was a thick 'thunk' as the slayer's boot made contact, and then nothing. The window hadn't suffered so much as a crack.

Buffy disappeared from view only to show a moment later in front of the large window in the living room. She punched at the glass, and then winced as she shook her hand in obvious pain. She landed a solid kick to the offending window, this time hopping a bit when it only ricocheted away from the unmarred surface. Again and again she punched and kicked at windows and doors only to find her efforts rebuffed.

Willow waited until the blonde was once again glaring at her through the window of her back door. Walking over to lean down and look the smaller woman in the eye, Willow grinned.

"Not much of a witch, huh? Seems I figured out a way to uninvite *you*." With a swirl of fiery hair, Willow turned and ascended the stairs.

**~Part: 24~**

Willow rounded the corner to find her parents' room empty. A quick look around confirmed that Cordelia wasn't under the bed or in the closet. A missing telephone and a closed bathroom door made the witch smile.

/Of course./

"Cordy?" Willow giggled at the sharp 'eep' that greeted her voice from the other side of the door. "You can come out now. She's gone."

"Gone?" The door opened, revealing a clearly shaken seer clutching the telephone to her chest.

"Yes, gone. I threw her out."

"And what? She left, just like that?"

"Well, there was some threatening involved and a lot of kicking and punching at the glass. I wouldn't call it peaceful. Is that Angel?"

"Huh?" Cordelia had moved into the room proper and was peering out the door, moving to get a better view.

Willow pointed to the phone Cordelia had in a death grip. "Are you talking to Angel?"

Nodding quickly, the brunette brought it back to her ear. "Angel?- Geez, you don't have to yell.- Fine. We're both fine."

Willow sprinted down the hall to her room and pulled the cordless phone from its base on her bedside table. Hitting the 'talk' button, the redhead was immediately assaulted by a deep Irish voice barely discernable over a thick English accent, both demanding to know what was going on.

"It's okay! We're Fine!" The noise stopped just long enough for Willow to take a breath.

"Are you okay?"

"What the bloody hell is going on?!"

"One at a time! First off, we're fine. Cordy's a little wigged, but we're fine. Buffy showed up wanting me to give her Spike." Willow waited until the blonde vampire finished his grumbling, trying not to laugh as he mentioned the 'blonde whore of a slayer'. "I told her you were sleeping in a safe room where you couldn't feel each other."

"That's what got Cordelia all scared?" Angel sounded disbelieving, and Willow could almost see the look that he had on his face. "I've seen her face some truly horrific things without getting this riled up."

"I think she must have overheard Buffy saying that she's punishing me for bringing her back, making me suffer because I made her suffer."

"You didn't-"

"I *did*, Angel." Willow sunk down on the corner of her parents' bed, facing Cordelia. "I didn't mean to, I thought I was going something good, but I was wrong."

"You don't deserve this, though." Spike's voice was comforting, but the edge in it told Willow that he was reining in his temper. "Red, I know you wanted to take your exams, but you need to come back to LA."

"She's going to hurt Xander, Spike."

"What?" Angel answered, the pitch of his voice impossibly high.

"She was going to start with Xander until she realized, somehow, that I had feelings for Spike. That's why she started with him instead."

"Why would she go after them?" A new voice tickled over the phone, a thick southern twang very noticeable.

"Hello Fred." Willow cleared her throat, hating to say the next sentence. "She learned it from Angelus."

"Learned what?" Angel was clearly trying to come to grips with the entire situation.

"She's going to go through them all, one by one, until I'm left broken and alone."

"Then she'll come for you."

"No, Angel, that's where she's got Angelus beat."

This time it was Spike's soft voice that came over the line. "How's that, luv?"

"She's not going to kill me. She knows that, since I was a little girl and my parents started leaving me alone, I've always hated being alone."

"You're not alone, Red."

"I will be... I will be."

It had taken the two vampires and the seer an hour to calm the witch down. After assuring Angel that she was okay, she spent another half hour trying to convince Spike that he needed to rest more than he needed to drive all the way back to Sunnydale.

"Spike, I'll be fine. I'm going to get Xander, Anya, and Giles together to tell them what's going on. I can't just leave them here if Buffy wants to hurt them. I at least have to warn them."

"You're right, luv." Spike sighed audibly. "I just want you here where I can look after you."

"I can take care of myself, you know." A stray thought popped into her mind. "Spike?"

"Yeah, luv?"

"What did you mean about women putting their hair up?"

A husky laugh floated over the phone, caressing her ear and tingling its way down her spine. "When I was young, women would wear their hair up unless they were going to bed. Their hair was their one last great mystery."

"But didn't they wear long skirts and stuff?"

"Once you've seen a pair of legs, you've seen them all. The sight of all that hair floating down around a woman's shoulders," Spike groaned. "That's something to behold."

"Oh," Willow smiled and said her good-byes.

Now, Willow, with a sort of messy bun at the top of her head with curls framing her face, opened the door to greet Xander and Anya.

"We came as soon as we got your message." Xander smiled at Willow as he came through the door. "You said Spike wasn't here, so we came baring only pizza and- Cordelia!"

Willow couldn't contain the giggle at Xander's shocked expression. He had stopped just inside the front door, completely blocking Anya's path.

"Xander, we brought soda." Anya elbowed her way past her boyfriend's frozen form, halting when she saw the two women standing in the foyer. "Oh, that Cordelia."

Willow moved to stand between the two women. "Let me re-introduce the two of you. The last time you met wasn't the best of times for anyone. Anyanka, this is Cordelia, one of my good friends. Cordy, meet Anya."

"Hello." Cordy extended an uncertain hand to Anya.

"Are you here to try and take my Xander away?"

"No." Cordy looked at Willow, getting only an encouraging nod. "I'm here to help Willow."

"Oh," Anya's face lit up with her smile as she grasped Cordy's hand. "Pleased to meet you. As long as you're not after Xander, we should get along fine."

"Then we're good."

Anya's reply was cut off by a knock on the door behind her still unmoving boyfriend. "Don't just stand there, Xander. Answer the door."

Giles entered, took one look at the faces surrounding him, and herded them all into the living room. Xander placed the pizza on the coffee table beside the plates Willow had set out when he mentioned bringing food. Anya simply removed her coat and sat on one of the chairs.

"What is so important that I close shop and come running over here?"

Willow took a deep, calming breath and launched into her explanation.

The faces surrounding Willow were slack with shock, and she wasn't absolutely sure that they had heard anything after her description of Spike when she found him at the old mansion. It wasn't until she began retelling Buffy's expulsion from her house that any of them moved. This, too, was limited to four sets of eyes (Cordelia joined the group for this part of the explanation) sliding from Willow to the perfectly remade French door and back again.

"So, plans have been messed up a bit." Willow sighed in relief that her speech drew to a close. "Instead of just the two of us," Willow motioned to herself and Cordelia. "Now, we *all* have to go."

Xander, Anya, and Giles simply stared at the redhead.

"All of us."

Another stoic look from the others.

"To LA."

Still no response.

"As in... Now."

Giles finally came out of his stupor. "Just pack up and leave? Just like that?"

"She's not right, Giles. We need to put some distance between us and her. At least long enough to come up with a plan. After that, you guys can come back."

"'You guys'... You aren't coming back, Wills?" Xander sounded forlorn in his seat along the wall.

"I can't be a Scooby anymore, Xan. Not after all of this."

Anya had pulled herself out of Xander's lap and turned to face Giles. "You mean... we have to close the Magic Box? Do we have to stop making money for this?"

"It *does* sound like the logical thing to do, though I believe that it's a little predictable. Don't you think so, Willow?"

"Anywhere else has innocent people who have no clue about vampires, or slayers, or real witches with new powers they don't fully understand." Willow stood and moved to look out the window, her hands lacing and unlacing her fingers. "Spike's already there, so it just seems like the easiest thing right now. Angel has more than enough room in that hotel, and there are enough rooms restored for us all to sleep there."

"You're in love with him." Xander's voice was accusatory. "What is it with you girls and that vampire?"

"What?" Willow rounded to stare at her oldest friend. "In love with who?"

"Angel." The one word was said with more venom than anything Willow had ever heard pass the young man's lips.

"She's not in love with *Angel*." Anya rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, and Willow sagged in relief until Anya finished her thought. "She's in love with Spike."

"What!" The shout came from either side of the room, making it hard for Willow to look either her oldest friend or her mentor in the eye.

"Okay, so I'm in love with Spike." Willow nodded to herself. /I can't believe I just admitted to that without any stuttering or trying to backpedal./

"Go for it."

"Huh?"

Xander shrugged and gave a small grin. "If you're in love with him, then you should just... Go for it."

"I don't think he's over Buffy. It's too soon."

Xander crossed to her in three strides, grasped her arms in his hands, and bent down to look her in the eyes. "He wasn't in love with Buffy. She's the slayer. There's no way Spike would ever let himself be fully in love with someone who would never fit together with him. We both know you would fit. You're his puzzle piece, and I say go for it."

Willow nodded at Xander's forceful words, smiling as she remembered the way her body fit with Spike's as they kissed. Well, they were perfect puzzle pieces that way... It was a start.

"Maybe you're right."

"I *know* I'm right. If you don't give it a shot, you'll regret it."

Willow nodded, more to herself than to Xander or his words, and smiled. "I will, Xan."

"Good then."

They shared a smile before the sound of Cordelia clearing her throat got their attention.

"What's wrong, Cordy?" Willow wasn't sure what had the brunette acting so impatient.

Cordelia slid from her seat on the end table beside the couch to stand beside Willow. "If we're planning to get home before midnight, we should probably get moving."

"Right. You're right." Willow nodded and pushed Xander toward Anya.

"Xander. They want to close the shop until we figure out if Buffy's really crazy and going to come after us." The confusion Anya was feeling clearly written on her face. "Why would she destroy a place of business to get back at someone? That's just not right."

"I know, baby, but that's just the way things sometimes work." Xander pulled the small ex demon close to his chest, running a palm over the waves of her hair.

"Well, it sucks."

"Yeah, it does." Cordelia nodded and turned to Giles. "So, are you coming or what?"

"Yes, I suppose I have no other choice but to go along with this plan until a more reasonable one can be made."

"Do you ever do unstuffy?" The seer shook her head and dismissed him with the wave of one perfectly manicured hand. "Willow and I are already packed. Our things are in Angel's car. Giles will drive it back to LA so that Willow can drive her car-"

"No." The redhead interrupted Cordelia.

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"The sedan belongs to my parents."

"Oh." Cordelia regrouped in the amount of time it took for Xander to cough once. "Willow will drive Angel's car back with Xander and Anya. Giles can take his car, and I'll ride with him since it's a two seater. We go to Giles' first, then to your guys' apartment. We stay together as a group."

"Safety in numbers?" Anya looked at Xander and then grinned happily at his distracted nod. She'd gotten something right.

Willow, Cordelia, Giles, and Anya began moving toward the garage door until Xander's voice brought them up short.

"Wait."

"What is it now, Xander?"

"Sorry, G-Man. It's just..." Xander took a deep breath and looked at Willow. "What about Dawn?"


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: A HUGE thank you to everyone who has reviewed and added this to their favorites. I know it's been far too long, and I hope you are still reading. There are fun times ahead, and some scariness as well. I'm trying to get Spike *just right*, so please let me know how I'm doing. I'll be updating fast and furious for the next few days.**

Willow rounded the corner to find her parents' room empty. A quick look around confirmed that Cordelia wasn't under the bed or in the closet. A missing telephone and a closed bathroom door made the witch smile.

_Of course._

"Cordy?" Willow giggled at the sharp 'eep' that greeted her voice from the other side of the door. "You can come out now. She's gone."

"Gone?" The door opened, revealing a clearly shaken seer clutching the telephone to her chest.

"Yes, gone. I threw her out."

"And what? She left, just like that?"

"Well, there was some threatening involved and a lot of kicking and punching at the glass. I wouldn't call it peaceful. Is that Angel?"

"Huh?" Cordelia had moved into the room proper and was peering out the door, moving to get a better view.

Willow pointed to the phone Cordelia had in a death grip. "Are you talking to Angel?"

Nodding quickly, the brunette brought it back to her ear. "Angel? - Geez, you don't have to yell.- Fine. We're both fine."

Willow sprinted down the hall to her room and pulled the cordless phone from its base on her bedside table. Hitting the 'talk' button, the redhead was immediately assaulted by a deep Irish voice barely discernible over a thick English accent, both demanding to know what was going on.

"It's okay! We're Fine!" The noise stopped just long enough for Willow to take a breath.

"Are you okay?"

"What the bloody hell is going on?!"

"One at a time! First off, we're fine. Cordy's a little wigged, but we're fine. Buffy showed up wanting me to give her Spike." Willow waited until the blonde vampire finished his grumbling, trying not to laugh as he mentioned the 'blonde whore of a slayer'. "I told her you were sleeping in a safe room where you couldn't feel each other."

"That's what got Cordelia all scared?" Angel sounded disbelieving, and Willow could almost see the look that he had on his face. "I've seen her face some truly horrific things without getting this riled up."

"I think she must have overheard Buffy saying that she's punishing me for bringing her back, making me suffer because I made her suffer."

"You didn't-"

"I **did**, Angel." Willow sunk down on the corner of her parents' bed, facing Cordelia. "I didn't mean to, I thought I was going something good, but I was wrong."

"You don't deserve this, though." Spike's voice was comforting, but the edge in it told Willow that he was reining in his temper. "Red, I know you wanted to take your exams, but you need to come back to LA."

"She's going to hurt Xander, Spike."

"What?" Angel answered, the pitch of his voice impossibly high.

"She was going to start with Xander until she realized, somehow, that I had feelings for Spike. That's why she started with him instead."

"Why would she go after them?" A new voice tickled over the phone, a thick southern twang very noticeable.

"Hello Fred." Willow cleared her throat, hating to say the next sentence. "She learned it from Angelus."

"Learned what?" Angel was clearly trying to come to grips with the entire situation.

"She's going to go through them all, one by one, until I'm left broken and alone."

"Then she'll come for you."

"No, Angel, that's where she's got Angelus beat."

This time it was Spike's soft voice that came over the line. "How's that, luv?"

"She's not going to kill me. She knows that, since I was a little girl and my parents started leaving me alone, I've always hated being alone."

"You're not alone, Red."

"I will be... I will be."

It had taken the two vampires and the seer an hour to calm the witch down. After assuring Angel that she was okay, she spent another half hour trying to convince Spike that he needed to rest more than he needed to drive all the way back to Sunnydale.

"Spike, I'll be fine. I'm going to get Xander, Anya, and Giles together to tell them what's going on. I can't just leave them here if Buffy wants to hurt them. I at least have to warn them."

"You're right, luv." Spike sighed audibly. "I just want you here where I can look after you."

"I can take care of myself, you know." A stray thought popped into her mind. "Spike?"

"Yeah, luv?"

"What did you mean about women putting their hair up?"

A husky laugh floated over the phone, caressing her ear and tingling its way down her spine. "When I was young, women would wear their hair up unless they were going to bed. Their hair was their one last great mystery."

"But didn't they wear long skirts and stuff?"

"Once you've seen a pair of legs, you've seen them all. The sight of all that hair floating down around a woman's shoulders," Spike groaned. "That's something to behold."

"Oh," Willow smiled and said her good-byes.

Now, Willow, with a sort of messy bun at the top of her head with curls framing her face, opened the door to greet Xander and Anya.

"We came as soon as we got your message." Xander smiled at Willow as he came through the door. "You said Spike wasn't here, so we came baring only pizza and- Cordelia!"

Willow couldn't contain the giggle at Xander's shocked expression. He had stopped just inside the front door, completely blocking Anya's path.

"Xander, we brought soda." Anya elbowed her way past her boyfriend's frozen form, halting when she saw the two women standing in the foyer. "Oh, that Cordelia."

Willow moved to stand between the two women. "Let me re-introduce the two of you. The last time you met wasn't the best of times for anyone. Anyanka, this is Cordelia, one of my good friends. Cordy, meet Anya."

"Hello." Cordy extended an uncertain hand to Anya.

"Are you here to try and take my Xander away?"

"No." Cordy looked at Willow, getting only an encouraging nod. "I'm here to help Willow."

"Oh," Anya's face lit up with her smile as she grasped Cordy's hand. "Pleased to meet you. As long as you're not after Xander, we should get along fine."

"Then we're good."

Anya's reply was cut off by a knock on the door behind her still unmoving boyfriend. "Don't just stand there, Xander. Answer the door."

Giles entered, took one look at the faces surrounding him, and herded them all into the living room. Xander placed the pizza on the coffee table beside the plates Willow had set out when he mentioned bringing food. Anya simply removed her coat and sat on one of the chairs.

"What is so important that I close shop and come running over here?"

Willow took a deep, calming breath and launched into her explanation.

The faces surrounding Willow were slack with shock, and she wasn't absolutely sure that they had heard anything after her description of Spike when she found him at the old mansion. It wasn't until she began retelling Buffy's expulsion from her house that any of them moved. This, too, was limited to four sets of eyes (Cordelia joined the group for this part of the explanation) sliding from Willow to the perfectly remade French door and back again.

"So, plans have been messed up a bit." Willow sighed in relief that her speech drew to a close. "Instead of just the two of us," Willow motioned to herself and Cordelia. "Now, we all have to go."

Xander, Anya, and Giles simply stared at the redhead.

"All of us."

Another stoic look from the others.

"To LA."

Still no response.

"As in... Now."

Giles finally came out of his stupor. "Just pack up and leave? Just like that?"

"She's not right, Giles. We need to put some distance between us and her. At least long enough to come up with a plan. After that, you guys can come back."

"'You guys'... You aren't coming back, Wills?" Xander sounded forlorn in his seat along the wall.

"I can't be a Scooby anymore, Xan. Not after all of this."

Anya had pulled herself out of Xander's lap and turned to face Giles. "You mean... we have to close the Magic Box? Do we have to stop making money for this?"

"It does sound like the logical thing to do, though I believe that it's a little predictable. Don't you think so, Willow?"

"Anywhere else has innocent people who have no clue about vampires, or slayers, or real witches with new powers they don't fully understand." Willow stood and moved to look out the window, her hands lacing and unlacing her fingers. "Spike's already there, so it just seems like the easiest thing right now. Angel has more than enough room in that hotel, and there are enough rooms restored for us all to sleep there."

"You're in love with him." Xander's voice was accusatory. "What is it with you girls and that vampire?"

"What?" Willow rounded to stare at her oldest friend. "In love with who?"

"Angel." The one word was said with more venom than anything Willow had ever heard pass the young man's lips.

"She's not in love with Angel." Anya rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, and Willow sagged in relief until Anya finished her thought. "She's in love with Spike."

"What!" The shout came from either side of the room, making it hard for Willow to look either her oldest friend or her mentor in the eye.

"Okay, so I'm in love with Spike." Willow nodded to herself. _I can't believe I just admitted to that without any stuttering or trying to backpedal._

"Go for it."

"Huh?"

Xander shrugged and gave a small grin. "If you're in love with him, then you should just... Go for it."

"I don't think he's over Buffy. It's too soon."

Xander crossed to her in three strides, grasped her arms in his hands, and bent down to look her in the eyes. "He wasn't in love with Buffy. She's the slayer. There's no way Spike would ever let himself be fully in love with someone who would never fit together with him. We both know you would fit. You're his puzzle piece, and I say go for it."

Willow nodded at Xander's forceful words, smiling as she remembered the way her body fit with Spike's as they kissed. Well, they were perfect puzzle pieces that way... It was a start.

"Maybe you're right."

"I know I'm right. If you don't give it a shot, you'll regret it."

Willow nodded, more to herself than to Xander or his words, and smiled. "I will, Xan."

"Good then."

They shared a smile before the sound of Cordelia clearing her throat got their attention.

"What's wrong, Cordy?" Willow wasn't sure what had the brunette acting so impatient.

Cordelia slid from her seat on the end table beside the couch to stand beside Willow. "If we're planning to get home before midnight, we should probably get moving."

"Right. You're right." Willow nodded and pushed Xander toward Anya.

"Xander. They want to close the shop until we figure out if Buffy's really crazy and going to come after us." The confusion Anya was feeling clearly written on her face. "Why would she destroy a place of business to get back at someone? That's just not right."

"I know, baby, but that's just the way things sometimes work." Xander pulled the small ex demon close to his chest, running a palm over the waves of her hair.

"Well, it sucks."

"Yeah, it does." Cordelia nodded and turned to Giles. "So, are you coming or what?"

"Yes, I suppose I have no other choice but to go along with this plan until a more reasonable one can be made."

"Do you ever do unstuffy?" The seer shook her head and dismissed him with the wave of one perfectly manicured hand. "Willow and I are already packed. Our things are in Angel's car. Giles will drive it back to LA so that Willow can drive her car-"

"No." The redhead interrupted Cordelia.

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"The sedan belongs to my parents."

"Oh." Cordelia regrouped in the amount of time it took for Xander to cough once. "Willow will drive Angel's car back with Xander and Anya. Giles can take his car, and I'll ride with him since it's a two seater. We go to Giles' first, then to your guys' apartment. We stay together as a group."

"Safety in numbers?" Anya looked at Xander and then grinned happily at his distracted nod. She'd gotten something right.

Willow, Cordelia, Giles, and Anya began moving toward the garage door until Xander's voice brought them up short.

"Wait."

"What is it now, Xander?"

"Sorry, G-Man. It's just..." Xander took a deep breath and looked at Willow. "What about Dawn?"


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: For those who have waited so long, the end of this chapter marks the beginning of the M content. Fair warning.**

"We have to take her."

"Absolutely not!" Giles gave Willow a look that told her she was taking things too far. "Dawn means the world to Buffy. She won't be harmed."

"She won't be harmed, because she's coming with us!" Xander was nearly panting in rage. "We can't just leave her here, Giles!"

"If we take her without Buffy's permission, then it's kidnaping. I, for one, don't want to have the police to worry about on top of everything else. Buffy would do anything to protect the girl, as she proved not even a full year ago."

Willow sighed and pushed a few curls that had worked their way loose from her bun behind her ear. "Okay, we'll try it Giles' way first. If there's so much as a whimper from the girl's mouth, I'll know about it. I'm pretty sure I can be anywhere she is within seconds. If she's hurt or scared, all bets are off and she's coming with us. Agreed?"

Reluctant nods answered her, and Willow moved to the garage. "Let's get this started then. I'd like to be in LA, and off the road, by midnight."

Cordelia slid into the passenger seat of Giles' car before they backed out of the drive and waited for Willow in Angel's pride and joy to catch up. The trip to the watcher's apartment took less than ten minutes, and the group soon found themselves sitting in his living room.

Willow took a few minutes to call the hotel in LA, getting a machine for her trouble. She left a short message after the 'beep' telling whoever checked the messages that everyone was coming for a bit of a visit. She hung up the phone and tried to act more calm and collected than she really was.

After getting tired of the tense silence, Cordelia declared that they should be looking for on the road snacks. Since they spent most of their research sessions in the apartment, there was an impressive selection of sugary delicacies. Anya managed to locate a few bags and the group loaded them with as many unnutritious things as they could, only stopping when Giles lugged his suitcase to the foot of the stairs. Armed with two suitcases full of books and two duffels of clothing, along with their haul of road snacks, the group piled once more into the cars and headed across town to the apartment Xander shared with Anya.

"Something's not right." Willow rubbed her shimmering arms against an imaginary wind.

Xander raised an eyebrow and quirked his head to the side. "You sure, Will?"

"Sure, I'm sure. There's something... I don't know, just off about this tonight."

"It's the thought of Buffy. It will go away after we get out of here." Anya spoke softly, a sad expression on her face. "Come on, I want to get packed and out of here as soon as I can. If I'm going to be losing money, I may as well make the most of my vacation. They're supposed to be fun, right?"

"Yes, they are." Cordelia followed the ex demon up the stairs. Willow and Giles followed, an anxious Xander brought up the rear.

The three behind Cordelia couldn't enter the apartment until she stepped inside, so Anya's shout of fear and surprise caught them off guard. "Xander!"

The dark haired youth sprinted past Willow, Giles, and even Cordelia only to skid to a stop just inside the door to their home. To say the place was a wreck would be like calling the Titanic a boat. The front room was in complete disarray, and Willow could see the bedroom was just as bad.

"What happened?" Anya, sounding small and lost from the confines of Xander's arms, asked the others.

"Right off?" Willow pointed to a spot above the upturned and ripped apart remains of the sofa. "I'd say it was Buffy."

'Where Is He?' was scrawled along the wall in a slanted line in a deep red paint.

Intense anger flared through Willow's body, fueled by the fear that had been building since before she first found Spike beaten and bloodied. While everyone else began moving around the room to help Anya and Xander gather what they could from the mess, Willow stood, monolithic and pale in the moonlight streaking through the broken panes of the window.

Raising a hand she pointed at the stuffing and wire that had once been inside the large tan sofa. A few pieces of fluff trembled as if in a breeze before large clumps began flying through the air or slithering along the floor to their former home. As the cushions restuffed themselves, the frame popped back in place. Willow grinned as she remembered 'Christine' and the car that put itself together in much the same way.

After the sofa was back in perfect condition and sitting where it always had, the witch went to work on the other pieces of furniture in the living area. Next came all the picture frames and windows. She moved into the kitchen, moving and straightening as she looked around the immaculate room. The bathroom hadn't been touched, so she moved on to the bedroom where everyone way searching for enough clothes to last the couple at least a few days in LA.

A wave of her hand had the bed reconstructed and the covers and pillows fluffing and folding on their own. A look at the closet had its rightful contents sliding back onto hangers, and the hangers hooking themselves over the rod.

"You gotta teach me that!"

"Later, maybe." Willow grinned as Xander's' obvious approval of her abilities. "Right now, you have some packing to do."

"That was amazing, Willow." Giles blinked at her from behind the lenses of his wired glasses.

"You ought to see her with blood stains!" Cordelia crowed from her spot on the bed where she was supervising Anya's packing by removing all the 'unfit' articles of clothing from the suitcase as quickly as the ex demon could put them in. "You're not taking this shirt, when that dress is hanging there so nice and neat. Don't forget to pack the red heels, since they obviously match so well."

"Oh, you're right. Thank you."

Willow could only shake her head at the newly human woman as she took the seer's advice without a second thought. _I wonder how she does that? Anya would fight me tooth and nail about just about everything I suggested._

Instead of taking up space in the small bedroom, Willow retreated back to the living room. The jagged words were still on the wall, and Willow grew more and more upset as she stared at the angry slashes of color. Green eyes slid over the letters, line by thick line, and the blood began sizzling through the redhead's veins. Willow didn't notice the heat, didn't notice the smell in the air, and didn't notice the sparking in her curls.

The first thing that drew her eyes away from the offensive words was a small flicker of blue light crawling down her arm. The blue flicker turned out to be a small flame sliding over her skin, tracing along the now glowing tribal patterns. As she watched, fascinated, the blue spot of heat grew until every patch of the tribal that wasn't covered by her shirt or mid-length skirt was alive with blue, yellow, and orange licking flames. Willow pulled her shirt away from her body, giggling softly as the newly exposed skin flickered to life.

"Willow!" Cordelia was standing in the doorway between the living room and the bedroom. The others came at her shout, skidding to a halt when the flaming redhead came into view.

"Giles?" The flames died out, leaving a frightened Willow standing in the middle of the room. "What's happening to me?"

"I think it's time we get to LA and find out."

Angel was standing in the open doorway when the hotel came into view, moving into the darkening evening only when his long, black convertible was safely parked behind Giles' flashy red one. "Anyone want to fill me in on what, exactly, happened?"

Willow had gotten out of the car first and turned to answer the dark vampire before Xander nudged her in the direction of the hotel. "Go on, Wills. We can handle this one on our own."

"Xan," Willow stopped her protest when a gust of wind that no one else felt wrapped around her petite body, nearly choking her on the burning smell that had come on in waves the entire time she'd been driving. "Maybe you're right. I'm too... something."

"I made Spike go lay down when he couldn't sit still any longer." Angel turned as Willow passed him. "Third floor, room 352."

The only indication that she'd heard him was a short nod of her head.

Room 352 was at the end of a short hallway that splintered off the main thoroughfare. Willow felt a knot slowly tying in her stomach as she neared the door, but kept moving. She knew that sleeping at 9:00 in the evening wasn't something Spike normally did, and wanted to be there when he woke._ Besides, he'd be upset if I didn't come to him as soon as I got here._

"Spike?" Willow knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open as she called his name. "Are you awake?"

Willow found herself in a suite, fitted in the highest of 1950's fashions. The velvet wallpaper was a deep blue on white, the carpeting a matching blue. Furniture in mahogany and varying gradients of blue was situated about the 'sitting area' in front of her. There was a counter to the left of the door that separated the small kitchenette with its refrigerator from the room proper.

An open arch stood across the room, and Willow moved through it to find herself at the foot of a large bed. "Spike?"

"Red?" Spike, shirtless though he still wore his boots, pushed himself off his stomach and onto an elbow to sweep his tousled hair from his eyes.

"Hi." Now that she was standing in front of the blonde, Willow forgot what it was she was going to tell him. "We just got in, and I thought you might want me to come up and tell you we were here."

Spike's boots made a heavy thunking as he slid from the bed to stand in front of Willow. "I've been thinkin' pet. I know you don't want to be some fling, and I get that. But, Willow, I think we've got the start of something much better here, and-"

Spike's words were cut off as Willow went to her toes and pressed an urgent kiss against his lips. With a purring growl, the vampire pulled her closer to his lean body, only to growl again and break the contact.

"What is it?" Willow knew the need she felt reflected in her eyes, not even trying to hide it as Spike continued to turn her face from side to side, looking at the top of her hair critically. "Is there something icky in my hair?"

"You've got it up."

"Yeah, I thought you might like it."

"Never said it was a bad thing, luv." Spike bent to nibble along the graceful line of Willow's exposed neck. "Quite the opposite, really."

The knot in Willow's tummy twisted tighter at the feel of Spike's tongue, teeth, and lips on the pale column of her neck. She tilted her head to the side and back slightly to give as much access as she could. A soft whimper came, unbidden, from her lips, and Spike backed away completely.

"I try telling you that you mean more to me than anyone, and I end up... mmm." Willow had once again cut off his words with her lips. "Red, not that I'm complaining or anything, I just want to get on the same page. What's goin' on?"

"A former friend of mine once told me to seize the day." Delicate hands slid over pale flesh, fingers circling and plucking flattened nipples, as the redhead spoke.

Spike unconsciously licked his lips and pushed against her hands as he met her eyes. "Is that what we're doing?"

"No, I'd much rather seize the night. It's where you're at, after all."

Spike quirked an eyebrow and gave that devil-may-care grin before grasping the sides of Willow's shirt and pulling her into a fierce kiss. "Carpe Noctem, then."

"Less talking, more carpe-ing."

Willow backed an unresisting Spike up to a wall before she nipped her way along his jaw to the sensitive patch of skin just under his left ear. She began licking and nipping in earnest, a deep moan rewarding her before she moved to kiss down Spike's arched neck. Reaching the spot that once held a pulse, she bit down harshly, laughing at her captive's surprised yelp.

"Red," Willow didn't have to look up from soothing the distended flesh with her tongue to know that the warning was spoken through fangs. The redhead lapped at a pebbled nipple as she slid her hands up smooth arms to grip and test the strength of firm biceps.

The feel of Spike's tongue sliding over hers and the flat of the wall at her back were the first things to break through the haze of pleasure she'd built around herself just from touching her soon to be lover. Willow pouted when the kiss was broken until she realized that her shirt was being removed, and obediently raised her arms to help the process.

As soon as the cloth was out of his way, Spike traced a line from her mouth to the top of the lacy green bra that encased her breasts. There were two muffled thumps as Spike's knees hit the floor and he began licking along the bottom of the cups, snaking his tongue under the fabric to caress flushed skin from time to time. Straps gave way easily under his practiced fingers, and Willow, had she been able to focus long enough to look down at her tormenter, would have been able to watch as Spike buried his nose in the valley between the mounds of flesh before turning his head and nibbling on the flushed skin that surrounded one nipple.

The knot had moved lower, pulling ever tighter as each shock of pleasure from Spike's attention to her breasts echoed down her body to her center. A sharp nip directly to her nipple followed by the slow laving of a tongue caused Willow's back to bow at an impossible angle. She felt something silky slide over her hands and realized her fingers had somehow found their way into Spike's hair.

"Spike," it was a whispered plea, though she wasn't quite sure what the plea was for. "Mmmnnnn, Goddess, Spike."

"We've got eternity, luv," Spike's fingers continued their teasing of one nipple as he pulled just far enough away from its twin to speak, lips and tongue caressing her airily as they formed words. "I'm going to take as much of it as I can making you feel like this."

Spike had unbuttoned her jeans and lowered the zipper while he spoke. Now the denim pooled around her ankles and one long finger had found its way under the cotton and lace of her panties to slowly make its way around her clit.

Spike's mouth at her breasts and the teasing finger at her core pulled the knot tighter, and Willow began thrashing in an attempt to slake the need that was suddenly so undeniable.

Then there was nothing between her body and Spike's expert hand. Fingers were buried inside her grasping channel, and one was pressing against her clit in glorious friction, and she was screaming.

"That's it, Willow. That's my girl. Scream for me."

Willow was boneless, only remaining upright because Spike's hands were grasping her hips, his head resting just below her navel. They were both panting.

"Spike?"

"Yeah, luv?"

"Think we can move the next round to the bed?"

Spike chuckled tiredly. "Give me a minute."

"I nearly passed out, Spike." Willow ran her tongue over dry lips. "Take all the time you need."

Spike stood, scooping a giggling Willow up and moving to the bed. "Okay, I'm ready."


	13. Chapter 13

Willow moaned softly as Spike let her slide down his body. As soon as her feet touched down, his hands slid up her arms to deftly unravel her fiery tresses from the confines of the bun. Willow shook her head softly, smiling at the look of appreciation in Spike's eyes.

"Cor, you're beautiful." Spike moved to embrace Willow, but the redhead avoided his arms and moved to kiss his shoulders and back.

"Now, you were saying something about this not being a fling?" Willow peppered soft kisses along the curve of Spike's spine, running the tip of her tongue down the long line of skin when she came in contact with the top of his jeans.

"Mmmm." Spike's head fell back as Willow scratched her nails back down to his waist. "Just trying to tell you that I'm feelin' far past this being a fling."

"So, we're serious about us being an 'us', then." Willow had knelt behind Spike's legs, untying one boot and then another. Spike obligingly stepped out of them and Willow shucked the socks from his feet.

"More than serious. Pet, I- Hey!" Willow had begun licking and kissing at the skin just above the denim as he spoke, taking a healthy nip when he tried to turn to look at her.

"Stand still. I'm playing." Willow's voice was harsh, but the gentle hand caressing the prominent bulge under his zipper took the sting from her words.

"Whatever you say, luv."

"Darn tootin'!" Willow's giggle vibrated through the lips still caressing his skin, and Spike gave a purring growl.

It took Willow a long moment to unbutton the blonde's jeans, the zipper following soon after. Spike wasn't wearing underwear, and Willow nodded to herself. One delicate hand slid over the crisp hair inside, and Willow couldn't keep up the slow pace.

In a swift motion that left Spike a little dizzy, the witch leaned away from his body, grasped his hips, and spun him to face her. She buried her nose in the crinkly hair above his member. Willow took in several deep breaths, reveling in the musky smell of Spike's body.

"Red," Spike's voice was low and rough, and he had to swallow a few times before trying to speak again. "Not that I don't love this whole thing, but you really can't do what I think you're about to do."

"And why not?" Willow quirked an eyebrow up at him.

"Because, I bloody well couldn't take it! When you came earlier, I almost came in my pants like some wet behind the ears teenager. I wouldn't be able to hold off if you took me in your mouth."

"What if I don't want you to hold off?"

Spike wrapped his fingers through Willow's flaming curls and gently brought her to stand in front of him. The fierce kiss full of fangs and small trickles of blood belied the feelings running through the vampire's body. Resting his forehead against hers, Spike looked her in the eyes.

"I want to be buried so deep inside you that you forget all about any other man. When I cum, I want you coming with me. I want to feel your legs wrapped around my waist and hear my name on your lips when I let go."

Willow was shaking with need by the time Spike released her. She stood, taking in trembling breaths, until Spike took pity on her and pulled her into a demanding kiss.

Willow knew her lips were bruising, that the copper taste on her tongue was her own blood from where Spike's game face had emerged minutes ago. She just didn't particularly care.

Nothing was more important than Spike's mouth, his hands that were caressing her body, or the feel of Spike's bare chest against her own as her nails dug deep into his back.

"Take me, Spike." Willow pushed herself up against his hard body. "Please take me, and love me."

"You don't have to worry about the takin' luv, and I do love you, Willow."

Willow had just enough time to admire, once again, the soft accent that slid over her name before she felt herself lifted and deposited in the center of Spike's bed. The duvet hadn't been replaced when Spike woke up from his nap, and the cool satin of the sheets caressed Willow's flushed skin. She arched her back in a long stretch and nearly purred her delight.

Long fingers caressed her hips before she felt herself being turned onto her stomach. "Spike?"

"Relax, luv." The vampire smirked at her unease. "It's nothin' like that. I just want to see your back is all."

Willow willed herself to calm down, and felt Spike's fingers caressing the soles of her feet. She let the tension ease from her muscles as his talented hands worked the knots in her feet and legs into submission. If it weren't for the cool sheets resting against the most intimate parts of her body, she would have forgotten she was naked with an equally naked Spike touching her.

She groaned in half disappointment, half pleasure, when Spike's fingers left her foot to trail up and down her right leg as his lips caressed her ankle. Lips and tongue traced over her calf to torment the responsive skin at the back of her knee. Higher his lips moved, barely pressing against her at all until his tongue skimmed along the crease where cheek met thigh, skipped the wet juncture between her thighs, and ran along the identical crease of her left leg. After that, the torturous trek began anew, though this time in reverse.

Willow was writhing in pleasure as Spike's tongue caressed the fragile bones of her left ankle. Long, deceptively delicate fingers had never stopped their teasing movements over her skin. Now, as Spike moved to explore the curve of her spine with eyes, and lips, and tongue, the fingers of his right hand slid to bask in the moist heat waiting for him.

"You still with me, pet?" Spike nipped softly at the conch of her ear as a single finger drew a slow circle around her clit. His only answer was a soft whimper and the bucking of her hips.

The whimper turned into a gasp a moment later when Spike repositioned his hands. His right arm now rested under Willow on the bed, fingers caressing her clit. Two fingers of his left hand now slid to rest inside Willow's grasping channel. "Oh, Spike."

"Let go, Red. I've got ya."

"No, I want...mmm... want you in me when I come." Willow looked through the sweat-slicked curls of her hair at her tormentor. "Please, Spike!"

At her 'please', Spike removed his hands and flipped her onto her back. He grasped her thighs to draw them apart and pull her off the mattress. Sitting up on his knees, Spike pulled her hard against him, impaling her on his hard shaft. Willow's response was immediate.

Her hands wrapped themselves in the sheets. Her back arched at an impossible angle. Her legs, still in Spike's hands, tensed until he could barely hold them. The velvet surrounding Spike's cock gripped him so tightly that he had to bite his lip and force himself not to come. Willow's world became fuzzy, and she screamed his name again and again as the pleasure finally broke over her body in a tidal wave of sensation.

For how long she rode the effects of her climax, Willow did not know. When she became aware of the world again, she was sitting astride Spike's lap, his member still impossibly hard and buried inside her. "Oh, goddess, Spike. I don't think I can move."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, pet. Just lean your head on my shoulder and let me take care of you." Willow could only nod as Spike's hips began a slow motion that brought a soft stirring to Willow's abdomen.

As he gently rocked, the now familiar cord deep within her began to coil once more. A hand slid between their bodies to caress and fondle her breast, and the coil tightened. Spike's head nudged hers up to meet him in a deep kiss, and the coil tightened.

Willow rested against Spike's body, feeling his body rub hers in all the right places as she felt him tremor in his need for her. Moving a hand to caress the back of his neck, she pulled his face to her pulse point.

"Drink me, Spike. Make me yours." As she felt the sharp, loving caress of fangs, Willow felt the coil release in a soft climax that seemed to welcome and embrace the harsh spasms of the body below hers.

Spike's muffled growl against her throat as he came told Willow all she needed to know, and she answered in kind...

"I love you, too, Spike."

Willow blinked slowly into the mirky light of the bedroom.

If the satin sheet sliding over her nude form and the decidedly wonderful ache between her legs had failed to remind her of her activities the night before, then the pale, muscled arm wrapped protectively around her waist would have. As it was, Willow could recall, in detail, the first three times she and Spike had worked each other to completion. After that, things got fuzzy.

She seemed to remember being woken up twice in the night by Spike's wonderful hands gliding over her flesh. He had taken her slowly both times, whispering into her ear all the things that he wanted to do, the places they would go, together. The second time they had come together this way, Willow had openly wept at the feelings Spike's body and words conjured. Spike had held her tightly and renewed his claim on her as she chanted her love for him in a mantra. Spike had told her that he loved her, cherished her, in a choked voice that Willow soon discovered accompanied tears of his own.

Now, after the hours of love making, Willow was driven by another basic human need. She was hungry.

"Spike." Willow twisted in his grasp to kiss his lips softly. "I have to get up."

"No. Go `sleep." His eyes hadn't opened, and Willow could tell by the frown lines between them that the vampire was still firmly cradled in the arms of Nod.

"I need a shower and something to eat. Just let up on the hold, and I'll let you go back to sleep."

Spike's arm slid from around her waist to rest on a slightly bruised hip. "Love you, Red."

"Love you too. I'll see you after you get some sleep." Willow kissed him gently, loving the soft smile and contented sigh that was her response.

The bathroom was decorated in a deep cream and navy blue tile. All of the accents were done in silver, making Willow smile. While most people preferred gold faucets, Willow had always liked the softer look of silver in the harsh florescent lighting. A full mirror was mounted on the back of the door, giving a Willow a full view when she gasped in shock.

The glittering sheen that had covered her body was gone. In its place was skin that would rival even the pale perfection of Spike, reminding her of Vamp Willow. Gone, too, were the pale pink vining tribal designs that had slithered over her legs, arms, and sides.

Instead, bands in the colors of flames circled her body. Four rings graced her long legs at ankles, calves, above the knee, and high on her thighs. Similarly, four bands adorned her arms. Another graced the base of her shapely neck, sitting just above where it joined her shoulders and coming to rest in a point at the hollow of her throat.

The lines at her thighs and biceps had been worked to resemble flames licking at her skin. They were all perfectly formed rings. Oranges, reds, and yellows shimmered and seemed to change with the way the light caressed them. Only one circlet of the flame- colored markings looked ill-formed.

A band roughly three inches in width ran along the line of her waist. It's coloring was perfect, yet the effect was lumpy both on top and along the bottom. It wasn't until she moved closer to her reflection that she came to realize that the band wasn't imperfect at all. It was, in fact, one of the most breathtaking changes she had undergone.

The band wasn't made up of a single, lumpy line at all! It was, in fact, a line of people made out of flame. It took a moment, but the redhead finally recalled seeing creatures like it in `Fantasia', in the palms of the winged creature that sat on top of a mountain. The small people now emblazoned on her skin had the same look to them.

Their forms were made of flame with gossamer-esque wings fluttering around them. They sat, danced, leapt, and lay to form the band that rode the line of her waist, slid over her hips, and dipped far below her navel. Willow blushed as she realized the placing of the lowest fire person put the toe of its pointed foot a hair's breath above her slit.

"Okay, that's a me and Spike only fairy." Willow giggled to herself and slowly turned to get the full effect of her new coloring. "I'm not glimmer girl anymore, but now I'm really pale. Good thing I always put sun block on, I'd hate to see what might happen if I got burned."

Shaking her head, Willow took a quick shower. It might not have been so quick if Willow hadn't found out, the hard way, that the hot water didn't last for more than ten minutes. After drying and dressing, choosing a pair of her favorite jeans to accompany the backless halter in case Giles and Wesley wanted to document her newest change in colors, Willow made her way quietly past Spike and out the door.

"Hello?" Willow had come down the stairs fully expecting everyone else to be working or milling about. She was at least expecting Wesley to be sitting at the table with his books, or Cordelia lounging behind her desk doing her nails. The quiet of the lobby surrounded her, making her feel almost lonely.

"Geez, I've been down here for thirty seconds and feel lonely? All work and no play makes Willow a dull girl." Willow giggled at her own misquote and chanced a look at her watch. "No wonder no one else is here yet! It's six o'clock!"

After a little exploring, Willow found the kitchen at the back of the ground floor. She was happy to see that it was neat and clean, though the obviously new appliances looked unused. A quick perusal of the refrigerator, which held precisely three carrots and a bottle of water, told Willow that the usual occupants of the hotel didn't do a whole lot of kitchen work.

Willow managed to pilfer the keys to Giles' car from the sleeping ex watcher's pocket and make a quick run to the store. It was made even more quick because she knew what everyone in her group did or didn't like to eat. She had wanted to make sure she had enough to last, not even wanting to imagine what the delivery bills would be if the members of both groups ate take out, so she made a point of getting two or three times the amount of some of their common favorites. One hour and three shopping carts full later, Willow mentally transported herself, something she privately referred to as `glitching', from the garage at Angel Investigations and into its kitchen with her purchases.

It didn't take long for Willow to put everything away, loving the `Mary Poppins' thing more and more each time a new bag opened to something she would have had to move back and forth to put in its rightful place, and she was soon in front of the stove with an obviously unused apron tied over her clothes and butter simmering in the skillet.

"Somethin' smells good!" A good natured voice boomed from the doors that Willow had propped open to give her a better chance of hearing someone come into the lobby. "What's up?"

"Hey Gunn." Willow grinned back at the good looking man. "I've got bacon on and pancakes ready to start. I'll let you have first crack at the bacon if you scramble the eggs for me."

"You, pretty lady, have yourself a deal." Gunn opened the door to the refrigerator and whistled in appreciation. "Someone went to the store."

"Can you imagine what it would cost to feed..." Willow broke off to count in her head. "Ten or eleven people on take out every time someone wanted to eat? Besides, we have a Xander in the house. We'll need to go shopping again in two or three days, tops."

"He like to eat that much?" Gunn had retrieved the eggs and began breaking them into a large mixing bowl. "How many?"

"Xander likes his sugar, and eating is his coping mechanism. When you live on the hellmouth, you **need** coping mechanisms." Willow glanced from her full griddle to the six eggs resting in the bowl on the counter. "Just do a whole dozen. Someone will eat them, I'm sure."

"How we wakin' everybody up?" Gunn grabbed a fork from the surprisingly stocked drawer.

"Xander will smell the food and wake Anya up. Giles is probably already awake, but staying in his room so as not to disturb anyone. I think I just heard either Wesley or Cordelia come in. The rest we'll just give a shout at if they aren't here when breakfast is ready."

Willow's ears had not deceived her, and Wesley poked his head through the door just as she finished speaking. "Hello Willow. I do believe this is the first time the kitchen proper has been used to actually cook."

"Hi Wesley." Willow smiled her good morning and nodded toward the stairs. "This is about done. Could you see if Angel or Spike is awake and tell Giles he won't wake anyone up if he came out now?"

"Of course." Wesley had a spring in his step as he left to do her bidding.

Willow heard him call out a friendly hello to Cordelia, and turned to hand two full platters of pancakes to Gunn. "Go ahead and put these on the table and help yourself."

Gunn carried the large plates over to the long table sitting in the center of the room. Willow had already set out places for everyone as she was putting away the groceries, so he picked a seat at the head of one side and made himself comfortable as Willow floated three heaping plates of bacon to rest along the table's length.

"Hey Wills, what smells so good?" Xander and Anya were the first to walk through the door.

"We've got pancakes, eggs, bacon," Willow slid two baking sheets from the oven as the timer went off as planned. "And there are biscuits."

Cordelia, Giles, and Fred nearly skipped into the room, while Lorne, looking barely awake and rubbing at tired eyes, trudged in behind them. Angel and Wesley made their entrance just as they were sitting down, and Spike swung into the room soon after.

"Mornin' luv." Spike slid his arms around Willow's waist as she stood buttering the hot biscuits. Nuzzling her playfully, he placed a soft kiss on his claim and moved to the refrigerator. "What do we need on the table?"

"Um, syrup and honey from there. We need the salt, pepper, butter, coffee, and tea from the counter. I'm just putting the biscuits on some plates." Willow watched as Spike, aided by the fact that nothing had been opened, managed to carry everything in just two trips.

Floating two mugs of blood fresh from the microwave in front of her, Willow carried the two plates to the table. "Why aren't you eating?"

"It would be rude not to let you fill your plate before we dig in." Wesley chanced a glare at Xander, who visibly winced.

"Thank you." Willow quickly took a seat between Spike and Fred and filled her plate with enough food to feed three regular Willows.

"Hungry much?" Cordelia raised an eyebrow at Willow's heaping plates.

"I'm using a lot of energy on magic right now."

"Plus she has a lot of orgasms to recover from." Startled laughs, blushes, and coughs responded to Anya's frank observation.

"Aaaaan!" Xander gave a long suffering groan.

Anya looked at her boyfriend, blatantly puzzled. "What? It's not like we all decided to sleep on the other side of the hotel for no reason." Turning to face Willow across the table, the ex demon added. "Was it as good as it sounded? As good as you hoped?"

Willow chanced a glance at Spike, who had paused with his biscuit halfway to his mouth after dunking it in the mug of blood, and who was now watching her with raised eyebrows. "Better."

"Really?"

"I passed out..." Willow leaned forward as if telling a secret. "Twice."

"Wow." Cordelia, Anya, and Fred breathed the word in unison before the four females at the table dissolved into giggles.

After the meal had been eaten, and Willow thanked many times over for the wonderful start to the day, Giles appointed Xander, himself, and Angel as dishwashers. Gunn was let off the hook, as he had helped Willow. When Xander looked as if he were going to complain again, Anya had informed him that, as Willow had just gotten together with Spike and they'd had their first time together, it was time for girl talk. After that, Xander sent them out into the lobby, as the men found reasons to stay in the kitchen.

Willow was just explaining what it was like when Spike first kissed her all those weeks ago when the telephone rang and Cordelia told her to wait while she answered it.

"Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless." There was a pause in Cordelia's end of the conversation before her eyes went wide and she mouthed `Wesley' and pointed toward the back. "Yes, we'll except the call."

Willow made it back the long hallway and into the kitchen where the dishes were nearly finished and Spike was winning what appeared to be another in a long line of poker matches. "Wesley, phone. I think it's important. Cordy's being polite."

Wesley nearly skidded down the hallway, followed closely by the others, to take the phone from Cordelia's carefully cradling fingers. "Wesley Windham-Price here."

Willow refused to listen to Wesley's end of the conversation, no matter how much she wanted to hope that it was about her. Instead, she went about tidying the stacks of books sitting on the table and surrounding it on the floor. It wouldn't do for her to eavesdrop and learn only that there was nothing to learn.

"Willow?" Wesley's voice seemed loud in the silence of the lobby, and Willow suddenly wondered what she had missed.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"That was MaKai, she's a MaMae demon from New Zealand. She and her mate, DraMae, knew Deacon, apparently the demon whom you encountered, a long time ago. They have a friend who's willing to fly them here, but it will take until at least Monday night or early Tuesday for them to get here."

"They'll be able to help me?"

"They say there's no cure, that you've turned into something and not been infected, but they'll be able to shed some light on what you can be expecting."

"Do we know if these people, demons, are telling the truth?" Spike had moved to stand by Willow's slightly shaking form, slipping an arm about her waist. "I've never met any of these MaMae things."

"I have met two MaMae demons." Giles smiled at Willow. "They are fiercely loyal, fall in love and stay that way for their entire life, and are not capable of telling lies."

"Oh." Willow nodded to herself and brightened. "Good then. That will give me time to get back from my tests."

Spike spun Willow to face him amid the uproar her announcement had created. "From your what?"

"My tests. The exams I'll be taking tomorrow morning."

"Like hell you will!"

Willow pushed herself out of Spike's arms. "The hell I won't! I'll leave here at six in the morning so that I can be there before my ten o'clock exam. I'll leave after the test I have at two, it should be over by three or three thirty, and be back here before supper time."

"I won't-" Spike seemed to rethink his words, clenching his jaw and forcing words out between gritted teeth. "I don't want you meeting up against that slayer and not having me with you."

"I can get away from her, Spike. I won't go anywhere but straight to campus and straight home. I'll even eat lunch in the student union and stay out in the open around lots of people. She won't attack me if there are people around, it's too risky even for her."

"I worry is all, pet."

"I know, and I love you for it, but I'm going. Taking anyone else would only make me slower if something were to happen. I wouldn't glitch only myself away, and that would make me too weak."

"Glitch?" Giles spoke from his place beside Wesley at the table amid the newly straightened books.

"When I transport myself, or Buffy that once, from one spot to another."

"No one told me about transporting!" Indignation and happiness warred for dominance on Anya's face before the happiness won out. "That's so great, Willow! That sort of thing can really come in handy."

"It just makes me really tired if I try to do it more than once or with someone else." Willow turned to Spike. "See? If she tries anything, I can get away. You know I wouldn't even think about getting away alone if she grabbed someone else!"

Spike nodded and brought her into the circle of his arms as the phone rang in the background.

"Ahem, Willow?" Fred's southern drawl, usually sounding so upbeat and perky, had a worried edge to it that was mirrored in her wide brown eyes when Willow pulled away from Spike to look at her.

"Yeah, Fred?"

"It's a girl named Dawn." The tone of her voice nearly made it a question. "She says she needs to talk to you or Spike. Something about that Buffy girl scaring her."


	14. Chapter 14

"Hello?" Willow was speaking before the phone was even to her ear. "Dawn?"

"Oh, thank God." The tremble in the younger girl's voice caused Willow's breath to catch. "I was hoping that's where you guys ended up."

"Sorry about just leaving like that." Willow knew Dawn had to have tried everyone's phones before moving on to Angel's. "Things got bad with Buffy, and we all needed to make an exit without her really knowing where we went."

Dawn snorted before the sarcasm found its way out. "I don't think Angel's is all that secret of a place to hide out."

Willow smacked at Spike's hands as he attempted to trace the line of little people around her waist with tickling fingers. "Yeah, I get that. I was using it more as a place to stay until after my finals tomorrow."

"Got room for one more?"

"Why?" Willow held her arms out so that Wesley and Giles could look at the bands and make notes about them. "What's Buffy done?"

"Nothing, really," Dawn sighed, and Willow knew that the younger girl was running a hand through her hair in frustration. "I just get this feeling that something isn't right."

"Just a sec, Dawnie." Willow held the receiver tightly against her chest and smacked at Spike's hands that had found their way to the button of her pants. "Stop it!"

"The Watchers want to see the rest of this band."

Willow brought her lips to Spike's ear. "The lowest point of the band you're wanting everyone to see ends just above a very... personal spot that I'm not letting anyone close to but you. Unless you don't **want** to be close to anything under my pants?"

"Right then, show's over!" Spike pushed Willow away from his body slightly and turned to face the rest of the room. "I'll see the rest of it later and let you guys know what it looks like."

"We really should get a look at it, Spike." Giles, obviously not understanding the protectiveness in the vampire, objected from his seat.

"Only one seeing the whole thing is me, Watcher." Spike raised an eyebrow at Angel when the older vampire would have spoken, silently letting his sire know that it wasn't something he was going to let up on. "Tell you what. I'll draw some pictures for you."

"You draw?" Willow had moved the phone back to her ear, and spoke with her hand over the mouthpiece.

"Spent a few years with the Poof before he became the Poof, didn't I?"

"Angelus taught you to draw?"

"He's not as good as I am," Angel spoke from his position at the counter. "But, he's better than most."

"Will?"

"Sorry, Dawn, people are being weird here." Willow turned her back to the rest of the lobby and spoke quietly into the phone. "Giles is going to have kittens, but I'll come and get you tomorrow."

The younger girl sighed. "That long?"

"I've got to wake up and be ready to leave here at six in the morning, Dawn."

"I'm sorry I'm being such a wuss, but something isn't right."

"Tell me."

"Buffy's gone all the time now. She hardly ever makes it home before I go to bed, and I know she isn't working anymore. I don't know where she goes or what she does. I don't think she's even patrolling anymore!"

Willow sighed and thought through what Dawn had said and what had been left unsaid. _Buffy isn't staying at home at all really. Dawn's pretty much been left to fend for herself. If Dawnie knows Buffy isn't working, then she's skipped school and Buffy never even noticed._

"What else is going on?"

"I've seen her twice in the last three days. Both times she's been... different. It's like she's Buffy, but she's not." Dawn's sigh nearly broke Willow's heart. "She's giving me the total wiggins, Willow. I'm scared, and I don't know what to do."

"Dawnie?" Willow turned to face Xander as she spoke, letting him know with her eyes and a nod of her head that she was talking to him as well.

"Yeah?"

"Xander and Anya are coming to get you." Anya's eyebrows lifted, but she said nothing as she went to retrieve the keys to Giles' car from Willow's hand. "They'll be there in a little over an hour."

"Thank you." Willow could hear the relief in the teenager's voice.

"Pack what you would to go to a friend's and tell Buffy you're going to be gone for a few days. Use the key we gave you to get in. Just wait for them there."

"I'll have to leave her a note, but I'll be there."

"We'll see you soon, then."

Hanging up, Willow faced the curious faces of her friends, and Giles' irritated gaze. "Don't look at me like that. Buffy hasn't been home in days, and Dawn's scared."

"When did you get my car keys?"

"This morning, when I realized there was no food in the house." Turning to Xander and Anya, Willow grinned. "She'll be at your apartment."

Waving their goodbyes, the two made their way through the back of the hotel to the garage.

"I really don't think this is wise." Giles spoke, but Wesley nodded his agreement. Angel and Fred both looked as if they were about to add their objections as well.

"Giles, she isn't going to work anymore. Dawn would have had to skip school to know that, and Buffy never noticed that one either. She isn't even patrolling. Dawn's seen her twice in the last three days. Twice! Both times, something has been off about her. She says it's like Buffy isn't herself anymore."

"Isn't that the reason for our little shindig?" Lorne, now looking much more awake and carefree after getting some breakfast and nearly two full pots of coffee into his system, asked from his place beside Willow. "You're all here because the slayer isn't herself anymore."

The room went quiet at that. Everyone stood looking at each other with wide eyes before Willow nodded slightly and turned to the green demon.

"Thank you, Lorne. Now, I'm going to go and get some studying done before they get here. I know how Dawnie is, and there will be no staying in tonight once she realizes that she's in LA."

"I'll help, pet." Spike bounded up the stairs after her.

Willow blushed slightly and stole glances at the blonde vampire as they entered their room. "The only thing you want to study is the rest of that new band."

Spike only grinned as he held the door to their rooms open for her to pass. "Won't you come into my parlor?"

Willow found herself laughing at the vampire's antics, knowing that if all spiders were as attractive as Spike, then no fly would stand a chance.

Willow had gotten through her notes, happy that she had been going over the material whenever she could for the last few weeks. The dates and names came easily enough, but breaking down the impact of different works of literature on the societies that they were introduced into took a bit longer. Some of the works had the same effect on the readers, but they appeared at different times. She found it all really very fascinating.

Of course, studying for an exam was made slightly more difficult than usual by Spike's insistence that she stay in one position as he drew. Lying on her back with pillows piled on the bed behind her, jeans unfastened and rolled down to reveal the figures adorning her lower abdomen, Willow knew it wouldn't be long before Spike grew tired of studying her without touching, so she wasn't really surprised when Spike sighed heavily and slipped her notes from her hand before kissing her deeply and settling himself over her body comfortably.

"Bored?" Willow quirked an eyebrow up at her lover when he let her break away for some air.

"Just decided that the watchers have enough drawings of you. I keep drawing, and the pictures are going to stay between us."

Willow's response was cut off as a questing hand slid under her jeans to encounter the slightly dewy small thatch of curls. "Spike!"

"I have some work to do then." Spike purred into her throat and his tongue slid over the twin holes of his mark. His hands blindly reached for, and untied, the straps holding her top in place as he nipped along her collarbone and shoulders.

Willow gave a breathy sigh and arched into the feel of his mouth on her skin. The movement caused her top to slip to the side, allowing Spike to pull it out of his way and drop it to the floor.

"You're so bloody beautiful, Red." The words were whispered against the flesh leading from her throat to the valley between her small, pert breasts. Spike cradled her back, holding her slightly off the bed as he feasted on first one soft mound of flesh, then the other.

Willow grasped the sheet below her with one hand and wrapped the other in the soft curls of Spike's hair. With hiccupping gasp, she pulled Spike up for a deep kiss before wrapping her legs around his waist. A few seconds, and a steadying breath later, Spike found himself looking up into laughing green eyes.

"Pet?"

"Shhhh," Willow nibbled over Spike's lower lip and trailed her right hand down his chest to untuck the tight black shirt he habitually wore. "I'm playing."

"Right you are, luv." Spike's head dropped back on the pillow as Willow moved down to trail kisses around his navel and over the chiseled abdomen she'd uncovered.

Spreading her hands over Spike's slightly cool skin, Willow let her long fingers slide up his shirt, under his arms, to grasp his back and shoulders. Placing open-mouthed kisses over his ribs, she lingered over the slight hollow made where his sternum ended. Touching the tip of her nose to his flesh, Willow inhaled the scent of him, letting it slide through her body and wrap around her bones in a lasting caress.

"I love you, Spike." Willow spoke with her eyes shut, giving a squeak of surprise when she suddenly found herself flat on her back, grinning up at Spike.

His cerulean eyes shone as he looked over her face before meeting her gaze. "I love you too, Willow. I don't know how it happened, can't tell you when, but I do."

Willow once again used her legs as leverage and switched their positions. "I wasn't finished playing."

Spike only chuckled and sat up to help her remove the shirt she had previously moved. "Sorry, pet, didn't know I was interrupting playtime."

Willow chuckled and pushed him flat on his back just as her teeth closed on his left nipple. His gasp of pleasure built her confidence, and she began teasing both of them in earnest. She only moved away from her exploring when Spike grasped under her arms and pulled her up for another toe curling kiss.

Giggling, Willow pushed against his chest to sit straddling his waist. She had figured out sometime in the last day that she could keep from becoming too shy by focusing her eyes on Spike's face when he looked at her. The looks of awe and love that alternated in his eyes made her feel as if she were the most perfect woman on earth.

So, keeping her eyes locked with Spike's, Willow moved her hands to the chopsticks holding her hair in place. Pulling them free, she smiled at the unhindered happiness that lit up her lover's face as the multitude of curls slid down over her neck, chest, and back. Even the weight of the fiery tresses against her skin felt like a soft caress as Spike combed through them before rolling them once again.

Willow suddenly found herself unsure as she gazed up at the man she loved. She knew that he meant what he had said, that he really did love her, because she had seen it in his eyes. But, on some level, she was still the shy bookworm who could only make vowel sounds around guys she liked.

"Spike?"

Her words obviously broke some spell that had settled over the blonde, and he shook his head slightly before meeting her eyes. "Yeah, luv?"

"Love me?"

Spike groaned and slid down her body till his nose was even with the curve of her waist. "With all my bleedin' heart."

A tear slid from the corner of her eye at his words, seeping into the hair resting at her temple as she pressed the side of her face into the pillow. A gasp spilled from her throat as Spike peeled the now soaked material of her jeans and panties down her legs and off. She giggled at the disgusted face he made at her Funshine Bear socks before removing them and throwing them onto the growing pile of clothes.

Spike ran his tongue over the silky skin of her inner thighs. Willow stopped him as he was moving towards her slit, and brought him up for another heated kiss.

"My turn." The words were whispered against Spike's lips as she gently moved him to rest on the bed.

Willow slid down the bed to straddle his legs at the knees, reaching behind her to remove his socks before unbuttoning the black denim. She buried her nose in the spray of crinkly hair she revealed there, letting the scent of him wrap around her again. "Goddess, I love the way you smell."

Pulling herself upright once again, Willow slid off the end of the bed to remove Spike's jeans and toss them on top of her Care Bear socks before crawling slowly back up his body. She came to rest at the apex of his thighs, licking experimentally at the weeping head of his cock.

Spike's head whipped back in an arc, and his hands wrapped themselves in her hair. "Christ! Red!"

Willow pulled away as far as Spike's tense arms would allow. "I'm sorry."

Spike removed his hands from her curls and petted them back in place as he tried to bring her up to his eye level. When she refused to budge, he settled for locking his eyes on hers and raising a questioning brow. "What are you apologizing for?"

"I...I want to." Willow fought the blush she knew was sliding over her already heated skin and looked away from Spike.

"I'm not goin' to make you do anything, Red. You don't have to do anything you don't want."

Willow had found herself looking at Spike's still erect staff, and had to force her eyes back to his in order to think. "No, I want to do it. I'm just scared."

"Scared of what?" Spike succeeded in pulling her up to rest on his chest. "I'll not think less of you either way, if that's it. Some chits think it makes them subservient to the man, but, let me tell ya, I doubt there's ever a time when a woman could be more in control than when she's got a man's dangly parts in her mouth."

Willow giggled, and Spike pressed on. "If you find you don't like the taste or feel, you can just stop and we'll make a note not to go there again."

Willow drew back to look Spike in the face. "I'm not afraid of any of that."

"Then what, pet?"

"I'm afraid..." Willow sighed in annoyance. "I'm afraid I won't be any good at it."

Spike's bark of laughter and all out grin caused her to smile in return. "Not even a possibility, Willow."

Spike chuckled again, only to stop when Willow disappeared from his side, only to reappear with her lips suddenly surrounding the tip of his slightly flagging hard on. The resurgence of Spike's erection only spurred her on, and she slowly worked more of the velvety flesh into her mouth. She rose up, letting her tongue caress the underside of his shaft as she went.

Spike wrapped his hands in the sheet, only to start when the presence of her mouth on him was removed. He looked down to see her grinning up at him as she guided his fingers back to her hair, only returning to her oral exploration when they were back to caressing her scalp.

Willow alternated the suction and the rhythm of her movements as she got used to Spike's thickness. There was a slight moment of panic when her gag reflexes kicked in, but Willow managed to ease herself into pulling him fully down her throat. Deciding to try something she had once read, Willow swallowed.

There was a husky growl and a dizzying spin before Willow found herself below the amber-eyed embodiment of Spike's demon. Both hands were clasped in his above her head, and she could feel his hands to his elbows resting against hers. Licking her slightly dried lips, Willow moaned in contentment when Spike's lips and tongue joined her own.

The ridges on his forehead rubbed against the column of her neck as he nuzzled the mark branding her as his own. The sensation thrummed down her spine, and Willow slid her long legs to rest around Spike's swaying waist. Amber eyes met green as the vampire slid home, and Willow fought to keep her eyes open and focused on his as an orgasm rocked through her body.

He worked her through the waves of pleasure at an almost leisurely pace before slowly building the intensity of his thrusts. By the time he was thrusting into her at the inhuman rate she'd already grown to expect, Willow was cresting for a third time. Somehow, though they wracked her body with pleasure, they lacked something that Willow wanted.

Seeing the way that Spike's eyes had begun caressing the side of her neck, Willow realized what was missing. She arched her neck towards her love in invitation just as the fingers of one hand made their way to caress, pinch, and fondle her clit. "Oh, Spike! I... mmmm... I'm coming. Want you... with me."

Razor fangs sunk into the healing wound at her throat just as her climax bowed her off the bed, and Willow found the world becoming fuzzy around the edges before bright spots exploded and chased it into darkness.

The world swam slowly back into focus, and Willow smiled when her gaze centered on Spikes' worried blue eyes. His not-found- in-nature blonde hair fell in waves over his forehead, barely reaching his eyes. Willow smiled softly and smoothed it back.

"Your roots are starting to show." The soft words rasped out of her dried throat, and Willow grimaced at the sound.

"You scared the hell out of me, and now you want to exchange grooming advice?" Spike nearly squeaked in his indignance, and Willow chuckled to herself.

"Actually, I want to get a drink and a shower, in that order, and before Xander and Anya get back with Dawn."

"Yeah, can't go see Nibblet and show her a night on the town looking like we just rolled out of bed."

"Let me up, then." Willow slowly pushed herself off the mattress, only to be pushed back down before she could make it to her feet.

"How `bout we have the others show her around, and we," Spike motioned to himself and Willow, "stay in."

Willow groaned as her body responded readily to the vampire's smirk and wandering hands before she pressed Spike off of her until she sat facing him on the bed. "How about we go and take a shower together?"

Both of the blonde's eyebrows shot up at the suggestion, and Spike was suddenly standing by the bed. Slipping one arm under her legs and another behind her back, Spike picked her up and carried her into the spacious bathroom. "I think a bath is in order."

Willow hadn't really taken notice of the size of the tub when she had used the more modern stand up shower that morning, though she was certainly seeing it now! One of those old fashioned claw-footed affairs with deep sides and edges that curled under stood in the corner. A metal basket of various soaps and shampoos rested on the floor beside the cream colored porcelain. Next to the toiletries on the floor was a mounded heap of black and red clothes, and Willow found herself smirking at Spike as he went about filling the tub with steaming water.

"What?" Spike quirked a scarred brow before noticing Willow's pointed look at his discarded clothing. "A bloke can't enjoy a nice soak now and again?"

Giggling, Willow shook her head. "I just can't picture you in a bubble bath, is all."

"I only soak and read." Spike opened a small cabinet set into the wall, retrieved some towels, and then moved to the bottles that lined a shelf beside the vanity. "You want bubbles, pet?"

"Yes, please." Willow was trying to keep her mind focused on anything other than the fact that she was naked or the delicious as sin picture Spike made as he moved about without being the least bit insecure.

"Vanilla, raspberry, or rose?"

"You pick, Spike." Willow blushed and began picking at her nails. "I want you to like the way I smell."

"Already do, luv." Spike plucked a bottle from the shelf and emptied a more than healthy amount under the running water. Turning back to Willow, he sunk a hand into her curls and brought his forehead to rest against hers. "You smell like me."

"Huh?" Willow was well aware of it not being the world's most intelligent rejoinder, but was really too confused to care.

"Not in a bad, need to shower way." Spike sighed and ran a hand through his now curling hair and placed Willow in the tub, now overflowing with bubbles, before turning off the flow of water and settling in behind her slowly relaxing frame.

"Do you know what that bite on your neck means, pet?"

Willow moved her head to one side of his chest so she could crane her neck up at him. "I read once, in Giles' watcher diaries, about a claiming bite. Is that what it is?"

"That it is, pet." Spike grabbed a washcloth and began lathering it with a raspberry scented soap. "I've claimed you. You're mine."

Willow groaned as Spike's skilled hands worked the cloth along one arm, from fingers to shoulder and back again. "What am I to you, Spike?"

The cloth disappeared, and Spike's puzzled face was suddenly in view. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Am I your girlfriend, or what?" Willow knew she sounded insecure, but thought she could live with it since that was how she felt. "I really don't understand it."

Spike only nodded before returning to the task of washing the alabaster skin before him. It was nearly ten minutes before he finished with her hands, arms, and back. Soaking the cloth in the rich-smelling water, Spike once again lathered it with the soap.

"I love you Willow," Spike shushed her reply with a soft kiss as he ran the cloth beneath the water to caress the flat plain of her stomach and the softly throbbing places farther down. "Since the claim was made out of love, it means we are one." Spike grazed the line of her jaw with a kiss. "Mated." Another kiss placed just behind her ear. "Always."

The last was whispered over the puncture marks of his claim, and Willow found herself arching up to meet the kiss that was placed against them. "Always?"

"I'm forever, Willow, and there are ways of making you that way too without the loss of the soul that we're both so fond of."

As he spoke, Spike's long fingers had abandoned the washcloth in favor of caressing her skin themselves, and Willow found it hard to concentrate on his words. Planting her feet, the redhead rolled her head back to rest on the strong shoulder behind her as she lifted up to meet the thumb that flitted over her clit in teasing flicks. "Mmmm, Spike."

"Like that, pet?"

"`S nice." Willow tried to push against his hand, only to groan when it was removed. "Spike?"

"Turn around." The command was whispered against her ear, and Willow groaned at the loss of contact as she obeyed.

Once she was facing him, Spike sunk further down and pulled her to straddle his hips. Looking into her eyes the entire time, Spike positioned her over his erection and slid home.

Gasping, Willow fought to keep her eyes open and focused as her back tried to arch in pleasure. Licking parched lips, she moved to rotate her hips, only to be stopped by Spike's hands and a small shake of his head.

"Just stay there, Red." Spike slipped his arms under each of her knees, successfully lifting them off the bottom of the tub and giving her a new angle to enjoy.

Willow moaned in pleasure when the new position brought her aching nub in contact with Spike's body. The feel of him stretching her channel coupled with the pressure on her clit was just enough to drive her to distraction, but not nearly enough to send her over the edge. Finding that Spike's arms under her legs restrained her from doing anything to alleviate that slowly building ache, Willow groaned in frustration.

Spike chuckled. "Trust me, pet."

Willow nodded and kissed him fiercely, more to be doing **something** other than concentrating on the now undeniable ache of the tightened coil in her abdomen and desperation for contact than anything else. Spike happily accepted her kisses, but was careful to keep his arms steady under her knees.

Just when she thought that she was going to have to get away from Spike and do something about it on her own, Spike's arms moved her legs once again. Willow barely had time to register the sharp stab of his bone against her clit before her back bowed slightly and pleasure washed softly over her once again. Her eyes never left the ice blue depths of Spike's, and she felt him shudder slightly in his climax.

"I love you." The breathy voice that issued from her throat surprised her.

Spike groaned and brought her to rest against his chest. "Love you, too."

Spike and Willow were just walking down the stairs to the lobby, Willow on legs that were decidedly less than firm. They had let the water out of the tub and moved to the shower to rinse the bubbles and evidence of their lovemaking away. Spike had taken great pleasure in washing, conditioning, and combing Willow's hair, spending nearly half an hour twisting and pinning the curls into an intricate style after she'd dressed.

Willow fingered one of the twisting curls that had been left to cascade over her back and shoulders. "You do realize that women haven't been doing their hair like this for a hundred years, right?"

"Bleedin' shame, that." Spike's smile froze just before he cocked his head to the side and listened to something Willow couldn't hear. "Bit's here."

A moment later Dawn, Anya, and Xander came through the doorway from the garage. "Willow! Oh my God, I love your hair!"

"Hey Dawn." Willow hurried down the rest of the stairs and enveloped the younger girl in a tight hug. "Spike fixed it for me."

The hug had given the Dawn a close up view of the twin holes bored deep into the redhead's neck. "I'm guessing that you and Spike are a couple now?"

"Always knew you were a smart bird." Spike slid a cigarette between his lips and lit up as he spoke. "Have any troubles gettin' away?"

Dawn opened her mouth to answer, but stopped short as her gaze landed on something behind Spike's shoulder. "Do you guys know there's a green guy in a bright blue suit standing by Angel?"

"Oh!" Willow silently berated herself for the glaring etiquette mistake and lead Dawn over to the rest of the Angel Investigations team. "You know Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley. This is Charles Gunn."

"Gunn," The handsome young man shook Dawn's hand and smiled winningly. "Everyone calls me Gunn but Fred."

"That would be me." The perky Texan smiled and shrugged her shoulders in her shy way. "It's short for Winifred."

"And this is Lorne."

"Hey, Sugarkins." Lorne pulled the much smaller girl in for a hug that she barely managed to return before he'd pushed her back to get a better look at her. "You'll have to give me a song sometime, but it's almost dusk, and you're not going out dressed like that."

Dawn looked down at her jeans and t-shirt before looking at Willow questioningly.

"Lorne can tell things about people and their futures when they sing." Willow smiled indulgently. "I just figured you would want to go out, that's why he asked about your clothes."

"I'd love to go out, but I only packed a few things, and nothing fancy." Dawn looked over the other people's outfits with growing unease. "It's not like I was going to Bronze it on a school night, after all."

Gunn gave Dawn a rather blatant once over. "I think you're pretty enough without getting dressed up."

Spike's growl of warning was echoed by Angel's. "I can deal with the headache long enough to rip out that throat."

"Sorry," Gunn threw up his hands in a defensive gesture. "Didn't mean anything by it."

Willow shook her head at the territorial game the men were playing before kissing Spike and pulling Dawn up the stairs after Cordelia, Anya, and a reluctant Fred. She hadn't gotten to the stairs before Wesley's voice reached her ears.

"Willow looks rather pretty tonight."

"And she's all mine, mate," Spike's voice had taken on even more of the east-ender accent he put on. "Don't you be forgettin' it."

Willow and Dawn shared a smile and a soft giggle at Spike's declaration. _All his, for always. _Willow nodded to herself as she let Dawn into the suite she shared with Spike.


	15. Chapter 15

"Schoooooool's out. For. Sum-mer!" The redhead sang along to the music hammering through Giles' convertible from the rather impressive stereo system. "Schoooooool's out. For. E-ver!"

Willow sped along the highway towards Los Angeles, completely at ease and floating on the happy adrenaline rush that only the last day of school is capable of providing. Having her final exams out of the way, and the absence of any slayer sightings, made Willow want to shout and sing at the top of her lungs. Which, not coincidentally, she now found herself doing in the pride and joy of her surrogate father figure.

Even though she was nearly giddy, Willow knew that the exams had taken a lot more out of her than she expected. The stress of the weekend probably played a part in that, and she found herself increasingly grateful that she had been able to beg off staying out with her friends the night before.

Everyone, including the reluctant Englishmen and the two vampires, had gone to dinner at a restaurant with prices that made Giles stutter, Wesley and Gunn openly cringe, and Xander nearly choke on his water. Angel had only grinned at Cordelia, telling her not to worry about it when she questioned him about affording such a ritzy place.

When the seer's muttering about the unfairness of her boss paying for a big dinner when he refused to fund her new spring wardrobe stopped amusing him, Spike had ordered an exceedingly pricey bottle of wine that he informed them he was certain Willow would love. When she protested the unnecessary spending, the blonde had merely smirked and informed the rather large group of diners that they should all enjoy themselves.

"You lot have done more that I can name for the lives of the thankless masses. You deserve to have a treat from time to time. Willow deserves the best always." Spike flashed Willow a soft smile before turning back to the others. "One thing I learned over the past seventy or eighty years is that **you** have to take care of you. There's no guarantee that anyone else will."

"`Sides," Spike took a healthy swallow of the bourbon neat he had ordered for `starters' and leaned back in his chair to fix a smirk at his sire. "It's on Peaches."

For his part, Angel seemed undaunted by Spike. He simply waved the attentive drink server over and placed an order for two more bottles of the crisp, blushing wine. At the incredulous stares from the other men, Angel had shrugged. "Can't have Willow drinking alone, and it wouldn't be right for the women to be drinking without us. It just isn't polite."

Soon, the girls began talking about the recent trends they'd noticed their favorite stores stocking for the warm summer months to come. Willow tried to keep the conversation focused on Cordelia, but it had drifted against her will to include herself. She admitted that her tastes had evolved, but that she still didn't enjoy shopping when confronted with the idea of a nighttime shopping trip with the other girls.

Spike had ventured into the conversation to tell her that she should go, shooting down her attempts to talk him out of it. First, Willow, knowing that Spike was loathe to spend his own money on anything or anyone other than himself, tried to tell him that it would really cost too much, and that she could not pay for it. She was quickly told that she could use any one of his credit cards. Cordelia had picked up on the plural use, and threw her hat in as a shopping consultant. For a small fee, of course.

Willow's pleas for some time to sleep before leaving early the next morning were met with less contestation, and she knew that it was her only chance. She spoke to Spike quietly, explaining that she had to pass the exams she was having the next day, and that she had to leave by 7:00 the next morning to make it in time. Willow was still unsure of how it happened, but she soon found herself settled in bed at the hotel, Giles and Wesley ensconced in books in the lobby, while the others went to see what they could find at 9:00.

The outfit she discovered lying out for her, a midriff baring blue halter and a pair of low rise jeans, had earned her more than a few catcalls as she moved about campus, and she found herself wondering if Spike had meant to be the one looking at her, or if he was showing her off. A note attached to the velvet softness of the new top had informed her that the rest of her new wardrobe would be arriving while she was at school, and should be hanging in the closet and resting in drawers by the time she arrived home. The `home' had given her as much as a thrill as the `with love', and she'd impulsively thrown herself back into the bed to wake Spike with a passionate kiss of thanks before moving to shower.

Willow, now waiting at a stoplight that heralded the northern most border of the city she now called home, was struck by the thought that she should have known that Spike would go overboard. With the other men rendered silent by absence, shopping exhaustion, or else simply overridden by the more convincing voices of the women, the blonde would have found himself virtually alone with the girls. With only Cordelia, who loved to show off her great taste, Anya, who thought all men should spend heaps of money on their women, and Dawn, who was simply a normal teenaged girl, to help guide him, the doting vampire was left without a voice of reason to curb his enthusiasm.

Willow was saved from her pondering on what kinds of clothes she should expect to find, having a feeling that there would be quite a few pieces of leather involved, when she came through the door at the back of the lobby. Spike had been leaning against the banister at the foot of the stairs, but moved to wrap a protective arm around her waist upon seeing her. With a little pressure to her side, he was able to steer her around the other occupants of the lobby to a chair that had been moved to face the couch.

The couch hadn't changed since she had last seen it, but the two creatures sitting on it were definitely something she had never seen before. The larger of the two took up nearly half of the leather seat, and seemed to be reclining in order to occupy as much room as possible. Willow came to the conclusion that this was the male, as he was wearing a pair of pants made of some type of soft brown skin, and the other, smaller demon wore a skirt of the same material.

Other than the size differences, the two of them seemed very similar. They were both an exquisite jade green. Black eyes peered out of nearly round sockets. Webs bridged the gaps between the second sockets of the fingers on either otherwise human seeming hand.

The horns were a marked difference that Willow mentally kicked herself for overlooking. The male demon's horns were thick and bull-like, extending from the temples to nearly two feet above his head. The female's spiraled up from above her ears in dainty twists that ended a mere six or seven inches above her soft, blue green hair.

"H-hello." Willow tried to find the smile she knew was appropriate for such meetings, but came up with a blank. Sighing, she substituted a nervous grin and a shrug, hoping it would not seem too rude, as she sunk into the offered chair.

"Even'n." The larger of the two nodded at the small witch. "I'm DraMae."

"I'm Willow."

"We thought as much, as you **are** the reason we're here." The woman moved forward to pat Willow's knee in a comforting gesture. "My name is MaKai."

Willow found herself smiling at the pretty demon in front of her. "It's very nice to meet you, even if I am a little nervous."

"Do' worry, child." A chuckle rolled from deep within DraMae's chest. "We're here to help."

"You can make this stop?"

"We cannot change you back to being a human. Deacon gifted you with this. It is yours until you grow tired and another is called to take your place. When that happens, you will die as Deacon died."

"You mean... it really did kill him?" Willow's voice was small, and she was grateful for the strong arm that had remained around her as she sat. "I was hoping that wasn't what really happened."

"There can be only one Firestarter at a time, dear." MaKai's eyes held a kind of silent sympathy that Willow was grateful for.

"Is that what I am? A Firestarter?"

"Not `a'. `The'." DraMae shifted a bit on the cushion, no longer taking up as much room, and faced her head on. "There are four Starters. You are the Firestarter. There is also the Breather, the Quaker, and the Swimmer."

"Earth, Air, Fire, Water."

"Right in one." MaKai nodded happily. "There can only be four of you, one for each element, at any time. You keep your element's powers, wielding them when the need arises, until you gift the powers to the next person in line for them."

"Two questions," Willow waited until both MaMae were focused on her. "First, why me? Second, and only a little less important. Do I have to turn purple?"

MaKai's laughter drifted through the lobby. "Deacon told us that he went through three changes in color just after inheriting the powers. If you've already gone through three, I see no reason why you would have another.

"To answer your first question, all I know is that Deacon spoke of dreaming of a redheaded Witch in the last few times we spoke. The last phone call came from New York City nearly three weeks before the date Wesley said Deacon gave you his gifts. He spoke of feeling closer, though something was pulling him west."

"So, we can all see into the future?"

"This we do not know." MaKai shrugged dainty shoulders. "Deacon spoke of having horrible dreams, and we know the Breather can see things about a person by sharing their breath, but, as near as I can tell, there are no certain answers to that one."

"Perhaps," DraMae included his mate in the long glance that he swept over the room. "Perhaps the powers you're experiencing are due to your being a witch before meeting Deacon. From my limited understanding, the powers he gifted you with would only serve to increase those you already wielded."

"Oh."

Willow fell silent, and Spike spoke from his perch on the arm of the chair. "You said these powers were hers until she decided otherwise, and could find another person with the right calling. How long can she go on with this?"

"Forever, as far as we can tell." MaKai smiled at the disbelieving stares cast her way. "Deacon was in his twenties when he was gifted, and he told me once that he saw the 1600s come in while living in Italy."

Willow ignored Xander's soft whistle and decided to ask something that had been bothering her since this whole thing started. "So, I'm not going to go all evil?"

"If you had the capacity for true evilness, you would not have been chosen." DraMae gave a lopsided smile. "You're one of the good ones, kid."

Spike rose gracefully from his seat and lit a cigarette as he spoke. "So, to recap, Red is now immortal until she deems otherwise. There's no way for her to go evil. And this is how she's going to look for the next few hundred lifetimes."

At the nods from the two, seated demons, Spike swooped Willow into his arms and headed for the stairs. "Thanks for the information, mates."

Willow tried to tell him that he was being far too rude, but her words were stolen from her lips with Spike's passionate kiss.

Moving through the open door of their suite, Spike kicked it closed before deposited the redhead in the center of their bedroom floor. "Get out of those shoes, Red. I've got a surprise for ye."

Willow obediently slipped the heavy black boots from her feet. She debated silently whether or not the socks should go to, and pulled them off as well. She had just set them in the bottom of the closet when a curtain of deep green satin fell an inch from the tip of her nose.

Running her eyes up the length of the fabric, Willow discovered that it was an impossibly long satin gown. She let her hand trail up the cool material as she stood before turning in the circle of Spike's arms and kissing him softly.

"What's that for?"

"Got tired of you sleeping in those ugly t-shirts and boxers. Thought you might like a real gown to wear from time to time."

"You don't like it." Hurt flashed in his blue eyes before he hid it and moved to an opened box that sat on the bed. "That's fine by me. I think you're the most beautiful bloody creature on the planet in anything you wear."

Willow's hand on his arm stopped him from stuffing the gown back into its gift box. Spike turned to see Willow watching him with a soft smile and eyes that threatened tears. "I- I love it."

"Don't have to say that, Red."

"It's true! It's almost too pretty to actually wear. I've never had anything like it." Willow stepped back from Spike's still form and held her arms out to her sides. "Dress me?"

Spike spread the nightdress out on the bed and moved to caress Willow's back as he untied the two knots holding the halter in place. Soft kisses whispered over her shoulders and down her spine as the shirt fluttered to the floor. Spike's lips trailed kisses along the small of her back and the beginnings of her hips that the jeans she wore exposed as his hands slipped around to unbutton the fly of the pants.

When the material pooled at her ankles, Spike pushed the boy shorts she'd worn to join them. Spike moved around her body to place soft kisses over the indentation of her navel. "Lift up, luv."

Willow rested one hand on Spike's shoulder for balance as she lifted one leg after the other so that Spike could pull her remaining clothes free from her legs. Willow ran her fingers through the platinum hair that tickled her hip where Spike's head rested. With a soft tug, she brought him to stand in front of her for a long, slow, deep kiss.

Spike broke the kiss and moved back to the bed. Draping the yards of fabric over his shoulder, he positioned Willow's arms above her head before slipping the gown over them and arranging the thin straps on her shoulders as the weight of it settled over her slight frame. He spent a moment making sure the lines were straight before stepping back to take a look at his work.

"Christ, you're amazing." Spike smiled at her before a frown flitted over his brow. Stepping behind her, the vampire pulled the sticks holding most of her hair out of her face from the bun she had formed it into. With a few shakes and a quick finger combing, the waves and curls fell around her shoulders and over the swell of one breast. Spike was once again in front of her, smiling brightly this time. "Abso-bloody-lutely perfect."

"You think?"

Spike turned her to look in the new, full-length mirror standing to one side of the bedroom door. "I *know* it."

The gown was cut into a simple `A' line, the material skimming over the swells of her breasts before fitting snugly to her hips. The satin slid over her hips nicely, draping down the long expanse of her legs, before ending an inch from the floor. The deep green brought out the dancing flames of her curls and the emerald of her eyes.

Willow suddenly knew, without a shadow of doubt, that she was the most beautiful woman alive. The knowledge made her giddy, and she couldn't help the purely feminine giggle that went along with it. "I'm beautiful, Spike."

"You're always beautiful, Willow. I told you that."

"But I **feel** it, now."

"Good," Spike smiled and held a hand out to her as a heavy bass line thrummed from the stereo speakers. "Dance with me?"

Willow smiled and slid her hand into his. Spike pulled her close and began to lead her in dance step that Willow was certain hadn't been popular in over a hundred years. Willow let the tune and the strength of her partner lull her nerves about dancing, soon discovering that she loved the moving.

Spike pulled her closer to the firm lines of his body and began singing along to the beginning lines of the chorus. "Where do you go when you're lonely? Where do you go when you're blue? Where do you go when you're lonely? I'll follow you..."

Willow snuggled into Spike's chest and brought both arms around his neck as Spike's hands trailed down her sides.

Lips brushed the shell of her ear as Spike continued to sing. "Laughing with your pretty mouth."

"Laughing with your broken eyes." Willow smiled at Spike as she sang, loving the look of happy surprise.

Spike took the next line as he held her gaze with his own. "Laughing with you lover's tongue."

Willow's low soprano mixed flawlessly with Spike's tenor. "In a lullaby."

Spike pulled her into a soft kiss that ended only when Spike pushed her into a slow spin, her fingers never quite leaving those of the hand that held hers above her head. Willow giggled softly and Spike smiled in reply as he brought her back into the near waltz they had begun with.

"I love you, Willow." There was a slight hitch in Spike's voice that tugged at something deep within Willow, and she knew that she'd never leave this man in her arms.

"I love you more, William."

Spike stopped dancing as the last few notes of the song faded away and let his eyes settle on hers in a silent question. After a moment, he seemed to come to a conclusion about something and nodded to himself. Sliding his hands up her arms to her shoulders, then back into the red tresses, Spike pulled her flush against him and met her in an openmouthed kiss that tugged that same invisible cord inside her, and Willow found herself crying once again.

"Shhhh," Spike swept her up and carried her to the bed. "I'm going to love you the way you were always meant to be loved."

"Good." Willow nodded and gave him a watery smile. "`Cuz I plan on doing the same with you."

Spike only chuckled and stretched himself half atop her body as he brought her into another soul melding kiss.

Willow awoke to the soft, distinct spattering of rain against the covered windows. There was a muted flash of lightening against the heavy black of the curtains, and thunder boomed in the distance. Willow smiled a purely feminine smile and stretched under Spike's arm while remembering how much she loved rainy days.

Slipping from the bed, she made her way over to one of the covered windows. Moving the velvet to the side, being careful to keep the rain filtered light from touching the pale perfection of her lover's form, she looked out over the streets and shops. Deciding that is was still too early for her to be doing anything resembling productive on the day after her last day of school, Willow forewent the clothes in her closet and drawers for the green robe that matched her gown.

Willow moved to the end of the hall and through the door that would lead her to the back stairs. She was reminded again and again of the long hours of lovemaking that she had taken part in the afternoon and night before. Twinges of delicious pain, softened by the ever present caresses of the satin still encasing her body, slithered through overused muscles and complimented the constant, dull throb between her legs.

She knew there were bruises the size of Spike's large hands on her thighs and hips. They would complement the bruising around the deep twin holes of the claim mark on the lower left side of her throat. Willow caught sight of herself in the window set into the door to the roof, surprised to see how well the curls of her hair and low cut of the gown framed Spike's bite.

Pushing the door open and wedging a heavy rock in front of it to hold it in place, Willow moved to one of the chairs Cordelia and Fred had brought up and placed under the small overhang. They were sheltered from the pounding rain, and Willow suddenly wished for a nice cup of tea.

Willow had just toed off her slippers and curled her legs under her in the cushioned seat when a cry caught her attention. It wasn't loud enough to be a scream, but it was not something she, after growing up on a hellmouth and fighting countless demons and vampires, would associate with someone having a good time. Tuning her ears into the sound, Willow held her breath until she heard it again, closer and more urgent than before.

Deciding that Spike would just have to forgive her if the gown got ruined, Willow slipped the robe from her shoulders and laid it over the back of her chair before moving out into the rain. Leaning over one side of the roof, Willow peered into the murky light of the early Los Angeles morning.

Her gown was plastered to her back with water a scarce minute later, and there had been no sign of anyone moving on the deserted streets below. Just as she decided that she was looking for a figment of her imagination, a flash of movement caught her eye.

Someone, a girl from the length of the hair and shortness of the strides, ran around the corner of the building across the street, skidding and falling on the wet cement of the cracked sidewalk. As she watched, Willow saw another person round the corner and advance on the first with frightening speed. She was confused until she realized that the foreboding clouds blanketing the sky made the vampire's daytime movements possible.

"Goddess," Willow whispered to herself and pushed herself away from the low wall. Knowing she'd lose sight of the now struggling pair if she went for the stairs, Willow closed her eyes and transported herself from the rooftop to the spot just behind them. The man half turned when she appeared, giving Willow a side view of the ridges marring his forehead and the amber in his eyes. The woman, though much older, and a little taller than herself, seemed impossibly tiny writhing in the grip of the demon.

"Hey!" Willow tried to remind herself that she was immortal. This, of course, did nothing to stop the thud of her heart when the vampire, still clutching the struggling woman, turned to face her head on. "Isn't she a little stale?"

"What?" The surprise was obvious in the vampire's eyes and voice. Willow was suddenly struck with the knowledge that she was facing nothing more than a minion, probably recently out of the ground.

Trying to remember everything she had learned from watching and listening to Spike and Angel about the psychology of vampires, Willow stood tall and moved a little closer. "Well, Spike and Angelus always said that the blood tasted old after so long."

"Who?"

The woman had calmed down, now only struggling when the hand around her throat visibly tightened.

"Spike and Angelus? Never heard of William the Bloody? Scourge of Europe? None of this ringing any bells?"

"Should they?"

"Well, I suppose that your master has probably been too busy running away from Angel or finding nice young girls to sleep with and eat to properly educate you on vampire history. I guess Spike is one of a dying breed. I mean, he obviously has more... finesse than you. It's not a long stretch to think that it's because of the weak blood running through your veins."

"Shut up." The words were a low growl, and Willow knew she'd struck a nerve.

"Well, you're out during the day, though it **is** all cloudy and rainy, so I guess that gives you a little leeway in the brainless department." Willow let her fear turn into anger at the thought of a mere minion attacking a woman old enough to be her mother when she should have been safe. Deliciously clean, pure anger slithered through her mind and slammed blood through her body, making her hands tingle.

"You're obviously stuck in demon face, which is a pretty major sign that whoever turned you just needed another body to put between themselves and whatever threatens them. You weren't even worth bringing over as a true childe." Electric shocks sizzled down her spine, and Willow began looking for the opening the vampire's anger would cause.

"That **is** assuming that whoever made you was strong enough to make a true childe in the first place. Who am I to say that he was that strong? Maybe this is the best he could do." Willow affected an unconcerned shrug and raised both her eyebrows at the vampire.

"I told you," The irate minion tossed the woman almost nonchalantly into the side of the building, not looking up when she scrambled to her feet and ran for the hotel. "To. Just. Shut. Up!"

Willow threw her hands up and let the anger out in one sharp crack of fire and electricity directly into the vampire's chest. He flew back into the building, shattering the two nearest windows and leaving a large dent in the plaster facade before bursting into dust.

The sound of applause behind her startled Willow. She turned, half expecting Spike to be standing there with disapproval warring with pride in his lovely blue eye.

The blonde wasn't Spike, however, and the sight of Buffy standing on the sidewalk in LA jarred Willow long enough for the sharp pain at the back of her head to take her by surprise.

"WAKE UP!"

Willow instinctively jerked away from the piercing shout that caused her head to throb sharply. The action caused the knot at the back of her head to smash into the cool, flat surface behind her. A fissure of pain lanced through her skull and caused her arms and legs to spasm in response.

"Huh?" Willow tried to cradle her aching head, only to find her wrists encased in something cold and metal.

"Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?" The voice, though slightly muffled by the ringing in her ears, was familiar. "I thought you would have had it figured out by now."

Willow squinted through the pain and tried to filter the offensive light through her lashes. "Buffy?"

"Oh, someone give the girl a medal."

"What's going on?" Willow blinked a few times and managed to fully open her eyes. "Why am I chained to a wall?"

"Because," a deep voice sounded from the doorway of what Willow now saw to be a rundown bedroom. "We had to make accommodations suited for your power and knowledge of magic."

"Oh," Willow blinked slowly and looked around the room. Graying wallpaper peeled from the wall in great pieces. One of the hinged closet doors was lying on the floor, the other handing haphazardly from its running tract. The only window was covered with decaying cardboard, letting bits of light filter through. The demon standing in the doorway soon stole her attention away from wondering what, exactly, had left the yellow stains that seemed to drip down the walls in places.

Willow was reminded of something she had seen in a movie when she was younger, but couldn't quite place which one. Deeply cloven hooves protruded from thickly muscled legs that were covered in a thick mat of deep reddish-brown hair that seemed to catch the light like gleaming armor. His naked torso was as devoid of hair as his legs were covered, and the filtered light played over its crimson expanse as if he were wet. Massive arms ending in insanely huge hands with black talon-like nails drew a gasp from the redhead.

Great fangs, both upper and lower, made Willow think of a wolf. They also made it impossible for his lips to completely close over his teeth, and their gleaming whiteness was almost a shock. When she was able to drag her eyes away from the sharp, deadly looking teeth, Willow found herself staring into perfect blackness. His eyes were twin pools of nothing, as if even the meager light of the room wanted to hide from his sight. Great horns, thicker than DraMae's and with a wider spread, rose from his temples to spear the drywall above.

"What are you?" The question came out as a whisper, and Willow suddenly knew that she had been allowed her lengthy study of the beast in front of her for a reason. He had known she was going to be frightened, wanted her to be, when she knew what he looked like.

"I am Nwalya." The growling baritone made Willow's skin fight to crawl from her body. There was some sort of accent behind the words, but the witch was too focused on what was being said to care.

"Um..." Willow fought for words to make their way past the lump in her suddenly dry throat. "W-why... Why am I..."

"Why are you here?" The grin on Buffy's face scared the redhead almost as much as the thing standing just inside the door.

At Willow's nod, Nwalya gave a rumbling, barking laugh.

"You're here," the demon's horns gouged great ruts into the ceiling as he walked across the room to bend down and run a thick, black tongue along the column of Willow's throat. "Because I'm hungry."


	16. Chapter 16

The bolt of energy Willow tried to release into the body in front of her refused to leave hers, and she knew what accommodations had been made for her. Her powers had been bound. Her audible gulp echoed in her ears as she drew herself as far away from the towering body in front of her. "Hungry?"

Nwalyas answering snarl had Willow silently praying to the Goddess for continued control of her bladder as the demons face nuzzled into the juncture of her throat and shoulder. "Famished."

"Well, its LA, so there are lots of good places to eat." Willow glanced over at Buffys smirking face. "You could send Buffy to go get you something! Though, *you* could probably get it for free if you went, being really tall and scary and everything. But Im guessing that would probably be a bad idea for you, since I dont think even people in LA could ignore something like you walking around in broad daylight."

The barking laugh that erupted from next to her ear made Willow jump and give a short eep of fright. "Dear girl. I do not feed on the flesh of animals."

"You dont?"

"No. I feed on misery," sharp teeth grazed the soft line of her jaw "Pain."

"No wonder youre so big." Willow whispered the unconscious thought and then blushed when Nwalya gave another chuckle.

"Now, I understand why the vampire wants to keep you around. Besides being quite lovely, youre also rather amusing."

"Any chance that would get you to just take off the cuffs and let me go?"

The demon sobered. "No, and stop trying to work any magic. It will do you no good here."

"Why?"

"Because not being able to work magic causes you great pain. Since thats how I live, Ive bound your power to a part of me."

"So, your keeping that part or being alive keeps me from ever doing any magic again?"

"Precisely."

"Any chance youd tell me which part that was?"

"Hmmm... No."

A thought struck Willow, and she turned to fix her gaze on the small blonde leaning casually against the far wall. "Am I being used as bait?

Again, the low chuckle. "I knew you were intelligent."

"Yeah, well, Im always bait."

"Actually, this all revolves around you." Nwalya was standing at his full height, Willows head being just even with the corded muscles of his abdomen, and he ran the knuckles of one of his massive hands down the side of her face.

"Hows that?" The hand followed her head as she tried to lean away from the caress, so she gave up in favor of glaring.

"Well, Ive been feeding off of the souled vampires pain for nearly eighty years, though that stopped for a while when Angelus made his appearance. Ive also gotten great pleasure from the fear and anguish of various hellmouths over the centuries. The slayer here simply contacted me with an offer that I would have been a fool to refuse."

"Buffy contacted you?" Willow couldnt keep the disbelief from her voice and regretted it when a small, but extremely effective fist made contact with, and cracked, three of the lowest ribs on her right side.

"I got the spell out of one of Giles books. It only took a little slayer blood and a few words." Buffy smiled sweetly at Willows whimpers of pain. "Turns out, I had some slayer blood on hand."

"The slayer simply explained your new immortal status, and that, by taking all of your friends, we would cause you untold amounts of anguish. Living for as long as youre going to, you would be able to feed me from a distance for a very, very long time."

"Theres no chance of you changing your mind?"

Nwalya chuckled and moved to sit on his haunches in front of the redhead. "There *could* be one way."

"Hey!" Buffy jerked away from the wall and stormed over to the seated demon. "I brought you here. You have to do what I say!"

Nwalyas head snapped to fix the blond slayer with a steely gaze. "You may have summoned me, but I answer to no one. There are beings controlling hell that tremble in my presence! Ill not be turned into a lap dog by one pathetic slayer."

Buffys eyes widened before slitting in barely restrained rage. "You said that they would suffer."

"And they will, do not doubt that." Black eyes once again focused on the restrained witch in front of him. "Ive just come up with a way to live off your, and I mean only your, anguish for quite some time, Little Red."

Willow knew what he wanted her to ask, and almost went along, before something stopped her. A sudden flash of Spike lying in his own blood, sounding so proud that he hadnt given Buffy the satisfaction of a single scream, came to mind, and Willow found herself standing at full height. Her back was rigid, chin tilted in an almost cocky way, mouth set in a thin line of determination. If Spike could make it through that, she could make it through a conversation.

"Oh? Sorry I cant wish you luck on that one." Willow grinned inwardly at the fleeting look of surprise her nearly offhanded comment caused that massive demon in front of her. "It would be counterproductive of me, you see."

"Dont you want to hear what I have planned?"

"Probably not."

Again the infuriating chuckle worked its way from the throat of the demon. "I shall tell you anyway. Im going to keep you."

"What?!" Buffy stomped her foot from her spot beside Nwalya. "You said there would be suffering and death!"

"There will be great suffering. Imagine the pain of knowing that she is with me, an evil demon who feeds off the pain of others. They will fall apart." Facing Willow once again, Nwalya continued. "You will be staying with me."

The redhead fought the urge to start crying. She wouldnt be able to brag about things if she lost it in front of her captors. "I dont think I will, thanks."

"Decided to be brave, have we?" Nwalya twisted his chin from side to side, popping bones back into alignment. "I wonder how long that will last."

"Much longer than you, Im sure."

"Oh?"

"I know that Ive been missed by now. The woman I saved went to get help at Angels, so everyone will be out looking for me."

Nwalya ran the razor-like tips of the nails on one hand across the satin still covering her legs, giving a satisfied smirk around beastly teeth when the material gaped from seam to seam without a sound. The thin line of blood that welled to the surface brought a full smile to his face, and he ran long, thick fingers along the shallow cuts hed made. Grasping the gown at the seams, he tugged, ripping the back in a jagged line.

"That woman was *so* meant to do that." Buffy smirked at Willow, obviously knowing the demon was making her former friend more uncomfortable with his position and the soft caresses he was now placing along her exposed thighs than the hot pain of the cuts had. "Ive been a slayer long enough to know that she would run for the nearest building."

"So you *want* them to find me?" Willow shifted her weight from foot to foot, trying to dislodge the hand that had wrapped itself around her leg, just above her knee. She could feel the nearly blistering heat in a complete circle, knowing he held the entire circumference of her lower thigh.

"Oh, were leading them to an old warehouse an hour outside of the city, but thats the general idea." Buffy began polishing a stake as she spoke. "And when they get there, Spike gets to meet the business end of Mr. Pointy."

Willow cursed the physical reaction to the news of Spikes impending dusting. Her entire body had stiffened, and she knew that Nwalya had felt it. Was, in fact, taking pleasure in the torrent of emotions washing over her.

"You could never beat him before, and now hell have Angel on his side." Willow tried to ignore the black-nailed thumb that was caressing the inside of her thigh. "Giles and the others have all seen you fight for so long that they know what to expect."

"But they arent expecting him." Buffy nodded at Nwalya. "Theres no way they can be expecting him to have you on display as he tells them hes keeping you. Thats going to make Spike sloppy, and then Ill make him dust."

"And then," impossibly strong hands grasped behind Willows knees and drew her up the wall the same time Nwalya stood. Willows face was even with the demons less than two feet from the ceiling. "You will come with me, be my slave, until I grow tired of you. Trust me when I say that the pain of an innocent is much more delightful than that of some brooding, souled vampire."

The large hands that held her loosened, and she slid down the wall to rest on her feet. She barely had time to realize that her gown was being pushed up her body as she moved before it slid over her head. The straps were ripped to untangle it from the chains, and Willow was left naked.

"I dont think youll be getting lose to pull anyone out of heaven anytime soon." Buffys irritating grin made Willows teeth ache to sink into her throat, and she briefly wondered if she had been hanging out with Spike for too long.

"You know I didnt mean for that to happen. Im not going to say that Im sorry again."

"Youre the one naked and chained to the wall, Wills. I think you should be begging forgiveness, myself."

Willow fought to keep the blush she felt creeping its way up her skin from reaching her face. Instead focusing on what she knew Spike would be feeling. Rage. He would not be embarrassed of her; she knew he liked to show her off. But even the thought of another man hugging her would bring a soft snarl to his lips, so another man, demon or not, seeing her naked or touching her this way would be more than enough reason to eviscerate him slowly.

The blush was long gone when Willow glared a disgusted look into Nwalyas face. Hed begun caressing the bruises Spike had left during their last night together, and Willow landed a solid kick to chest, backing him up slightly from surprise. "You will not touch me."

"I will touch whatever I like. You are-" A sudden knock at the molding of the doorway forestalled anything else the demon was going to do or say, and Willow breathed a soft sigh at the unintended, but welcome, reprieve. "What?"

A man, eyes glinting amber as he took in the lithe body of the redhead chained to the wall, stepped into the room. "Theyre on their way, sir."

Nwalya turned to Willow with an almost jovial grin. The combination of the grin with the utter nothingness of his eyes unnerved her more than being naked in front of him had. There was just something so... *wrong* about it. "Looks like its time for you to say your farewells, girl."

Willow could only struggle ineffectively as a red hand cut off the air supply to both her mouth and nose.

Chapter 34

"WILLOW!" The shout ricocheted around the inside of Willows head.

Groaning, she moved to cover her ears, and was struck with a major case of deja vu when her arms were kept from moving. This time, however, they were bound behind her back with a thin nylon rope. A few experimental tugs told her that the knots would hold, and that any more struggling would only get her bleeding wrists for her trouble. Her legs, spaced a little past shoulder width apart, were also held immobile by rope, cool metal pressed against the bare flesh.

"Willow? Pet?" Spikes voice, an edge that she had never heard in it before, was closer now, in front of her, but somehow below. It hadnt occurred to Willow until that moment that her eyes were covered with some kind of cool, dark cloth.

"Willow? Are you quite alright?" Wesleys slightly more cultured voice danced along the empty air surrounding her.

"No, shes *not* alright!" Dawns voice now, high and panicked. "Shes naked, bleeding, and tied to a pipe!"

"That was a stupid question, Wesley." Anyas voice floated in the darkness.

The thought that they had pulled out all the stops to save her did nothing to calm the redhead. If Anya and Dawn were there, it meant that they all were. That would leave no one to know what happened to them when the trap was sprung.

"Spike?" Willows throat was dry, her lips cracked, and the word came as little more than a whisper.

"Dont worry, luv." A banging accompanied the accented words now coming from below her to the right. "Were going to get you out. Then Im going to rip whoever took you into thousands of pieces while theyre still alive."

"No." Shaking her head did nothing to help the headache that had set in upon waking, but Willow did it anyway. "Its a trap. Go."

"Screw that!" Xanders voice, pitched higher in panic, echoed from the spot Spikes voice had just come from.

A shriek from off to her left forced an automatic response from Willows bound body, and she winced as the ropes kept her in place. For the next few minutes, the sounds of fighting filled her ears. Shouts of warning were called from time to time, but Willow somehow knew that the group wasnt coming out on top of this one.

"There are too many of them!" Cordelias voice snapped the witchs attention to the space in front of her. "Giles! To your right!"

"What happened to the others?" Dawns voice was breathy and farther away than Freds had been.

"ENOUGH!" The deep growl of Nwalya sounded from directly beside her, and Willow whimpered involuntarily.

There were a few snarls that heralded the dusting of vampires, and then silence. Willow couldnt stretch her hearing far enough to pick up the panting breaths that would tell her that her would-be rescuers lived. There were no threats from Spike. No purely British exclamations. No ill-timed comments from Xander. There was simply... nothingness.

"I should thank you for falling into line so perfectly." The chuckle rumbled impossibly loud in the obviously empty space. "I had my doubts about that, but my lovely accomplice assured me of its success and, thankfully, she had you all pegged perfectly."

"Accomplice?" Willow wondered how Ripper asserted himself so easily in one word.

"Hi Giles!" Buffys voice, as bright as any California afternoon, came from Willows far left.

The groups outrage was instant. Willow easily made out the east-ender London accent calling for the bloody fuckin bitch of a slayers head. Different voices called out questions and threats. A deep Irish brogue, however, echoing above the others and mimicking Spikes words, caught Willows attention more than any others.

"Angel?" Buffys voice faltered. "You said he wouldnt be harmed!"

"And he wont." The voice was calm but pitched so everyone would hear. "So long as he doesnt anger us too greatly."

"Right. Angel, you be quiet."

"Buffy," Angels native accent colored the name and turned it into a sort of growl.

Or was he in demon face? Willow hated the material covering her eyes. She wanted, needed, to see that none of her friends were dead. And who were the others Dawn had mentioned during the fight? Were they alright?

"All will be laid bare. Starting with this." A burning pain slid over the skin of her temple, and the blindfold fell away. "Is that better?"

Willow blinked into the harsh light of the factory. She had been bound upright on an I-beam that was positioned with others to form a kind of railing. The floor of what looked like an old loading dock, surrounded on three sides by a tall fence that curved inward at the top, stretched out in front of her.

"I asked you a question!" Nwalyas voice thundered in her ear, but Willow did little more than draw as far away from him as possible while taking in the group standing in the center of the cement floor.

Spike and Angel, both with demons to the fore, were obviously trying to gauge the distance and obstacles between them and the railing. Giles, Xander, and Wesley were keeping their eyes on the vampires that were moving restlessly about them as they tried to keep Anya, Dawn, and Cordelia out of their enemies direct line of sight. Around them stood enough vampires to fill the entirety of the Bronze.

A perfectly manicured hand smacked against Willows cheek. "I suggest you answer him. He *is* your master, after all."

In turning to face the demon standing to her other side, Willow caught sight of Spike and stilled. She had decided that she was going to make Spike proud of her earlier. She couldnt do this on her own, but Spike could. She just had to channel as much of her lover as she could until something else came to mind. Now, how would he answer?

"Sod off." Willow nearly grinned at the way Spikes demon looked with raised eyebrows.

Nwalyas crimson fingers wrapped around her jaw and forced her head at a hard angle to face him. The tips of his black nails sunk through the flesh of her cheek and scraped against the enamel of her teeth. The demon smiled into her eyes, and Willow fought to keep the fear and pain from them as she tasted her own blood.

"What did you say, bitch?"

Willow drew back as best she could and spit the blood pooled on her tongue into his face. "I *said* for you. To. Just. Sod. Off!" Another wad of spit and blood splattered into Nwalyas eyes.

"For that," A hand used her throat to push her up the bar at her back, and Willow tightened her jaw to keep from crying out as her hips protested being pulled up as her ankles were held fast below. "You will pay."

Nwalya put her down and gave a jerking nod to Buffy. The blonde slayer moved in and rained a series of punches along Willows sides and legs. When she was finished, Willow could feel the bruises already forming from just below her breasts to nearly her ankles.

"Explain!" Ripper was staring out of Giles face, and Willow sent him a silent thank you with her eyes. She knew he was voicing this now as much for answers as to give her a brief respite.

"When Willow pulled me out of heaven, I was angry." Buffy hopped up on the railing beside Willows leg and gave a brief shrug. "I saw the way she watched Spike when she thought no one else was looking, and decided that Id take him."

Both Spike and Angel growled at Buffys callousness, but she ignored them and went on. "After he ran off with her for the weekend, I knew I had to do something more. So, I got into the books Giles wont let us read and found a spell to call Nwalya. He pretty much took over from there."

A commotion erupted along the back of the vampires crowded in front of one of the outside doors. As the demons parted, and an unconscious Gunn was dragged in. Lorne, bleeding, missing a horn, and barely standing on his own followed a limping Fred to join the assembly.

"Told you there would be people covering the perimeter." Buffy was smug as she faced her partner. "Angel always has someone to guard the perimeter."

Nwalya nodded silently, then turned and bent to put his face level with the side of Willows own. "Were going to play a game. Its called Who dies first. It starts with you picking someone, and ends with them being torn apart by those vampires. Sound like fun?"

Willow simply stood quietly, eyes focused on the wall across from her in fear that looking at anyone would seal their doom.

"Answer me!" She felt a fist in her hair, and then she was forced to meet the black eyes in front of her. "Who dies first?"

"You." Willow had steeled herself for the pain, so the slashing of talons over her stomach didnt come as too much of a surprise.

"I suppose your little slayer friend is next?"

"She hasnt been my friend for a while now, and death will be too good for her if any of them dies." Willow was surprised at the soft determination in her own voice.

Nwalya ran his blood covered nails over his tongue, tasting her blood even as his own welled up from the tiny cuts he left. Leaning forward, he licked a slow line up the side of her face to take in the blood still running from the gouges he had made earlier.

A tiny prickling of something familiar tickled along Willows senses.

She smiled.

Chapter 35

"What are you smiling about?" Buffy somehow managed to sound concerned and huffy at the same time, and Willow knew it came from years of seeing her facial expressions.

Willow didnt even favor her former friend with a glance. Instead, she focused her eyes on Spikes. Once she knew she had the blonde vampires attention, she darted her eyes pointedly at the sword he still held in a loose grip.

"I love you, pet." Spike called above the buzz of the vampires voices surrounding them.

The attackers had begun to relax as they waited for their master to give orders, and Spike had dusted three of them before they began to close ranks. Angel joined his childe, and they had done away with seven more by the time Buffy made her way into the fray. Throwing two of the minions away from Angel, she turned to face her ex.

Willow ignored whatever was being said once she was certain Spike and Angel were paying more attention to the situation than they were to the slayer. She turned to grin up at Nwalya. "Were going to be leaving soon."

Black, empty eyes filled her vision as Nwalya bent close to her face. Hot breath whispered over her lips before he sharply nibbled at them. "I wont let you."

A grin quirked a corner of the redheads bloodied mouth. "Youll be dead."

"Oh? Is your boyfriend going to kill me?" Sarcastic humor sounded strange coming from a demon who easily stood ten feet tall, but Willow wouldnt think of that until later.

Now, she forced her body to accept what she was about to do. It tried to rebel as she moved slightly forward, but came under control when she clamped down on her natural instinct to stay as far away from her captor as she could. She continued to sway almost imperceptibly, moving forward and then retreating, tempting Nwalya to lean toward her.

She waited until she was pressed against the pole behind her with the crimson monsters mouth still a hairs breath away from her own before she spoke again. "No. *Im* going to kill you."

A great horned head was thrown back in laughter before the sharp teeth were back to biting and licking at Willows mouth. "*You*? Kill me?"

"Yes." Willow inwardly cringed as she let her tongue slip out to flick over the vicious teeth in front of her. She forced her mouth to play over Nwalyas lips, telling herself it was a good thing when he began responding to her kisses.

"And how, may I ask, are you going to do that?"

Willow suddenly strained against her bindings to press herself as close to the demon as she could. Her tongue pushed passed Nwalyas teeth to battle with his, and Willow began angling her head back and to the side. It didnt take long for the demon to take the hint, and he was soon slanting his mouth over hers as she nearly choked on the tongue thrusting mercilessly too far into her mouth. A sharp movement later and Nwalya was screaming in pain.

Willow felt a familiar rush of energy slide over her body and smiled as a perfect Spike answer to the question came to mind. Spitting the now useless lump of muscle that used to be a tongue onto the floor at her feet, Willows lips dripped with Nwalyas nearly black blood.

"My way."

A bolt of pure white energy flashed from Willows chest into that of the demon, and she was surprised that she didnt have to focus on the ropes for them to untie themselves. The now familiar smells and sounds of her anger surrounded Willow as she thought of her friends... her family being threatened the way they had. Her eyes, now glowing with a strange light, focused only on the monster roaring in pain before her.

Willow blocked out the sounds of the battle going on in the rest of the factory, focusing only on the object of her hate. She knew Spike and Angel could handle Buffy, and that there were a lot of combatants to take on the horde of minions. It would take them some time, but they would do it.

"I should kill you slowly for what youve done." Willows voice was almost conversational. "But I dont have the time, and, frankly, Id much rather get to the part where Spike takes me home and spoils me rotten."

Slightly dazed eyes focused on Willow as she stood on the cold cement floor. Nwalya stood, blood still pouring from his mouth in gruesome rivers, to look down at her almost condescendingly. "Muun..."

"Dont try to talk." Willow was silently impressed at her sudden ability to banter, and decided it was probably the anger. "Youll only draw this out and , like I said, I kind of want to get home."

Nwalya snarled and threw a hand out to Willow. A tendril of power slammed into the redhead, and she was thrown back to skid across the floor. The demons quiet chuckles were broken off when she slowly drew herself up to her feet and smiled slightly. Not wasting energy on talking or trying to erect any kind of protection against the coming attack, Willow simply waited tensely.

It wasnt long before another black current arced between one massive hand and her small body. With a deep breath, Willow opened the chasm inside herself where she stored all her magic and focused on the blinding pain radiating from her chest.

Nwalya gasped when he realized what she was doing, but it was too late. Willow had grafted her power onto that of the demons, pulling it into her as she would return her own to its well. When her body was humming with power, Willow felt the cuts and bruises lining her body heal. She knew there was no way for her to contain all that she was taking in, so she began to focus on the fighting on the floor at her left.

A shaft of lightning shot from her outstretched hand to rip through the chests of four vampires, leaving them to quiver and jerk for a moment before they shattered into the bits of dust that signaled their final deaths. Gunn, barely standing in front of a cowering Dawn, nodded to Willow in silent thanks before turning his attention to the first vampire that came forward to take his lost comrades place. Another shot of white-hot magic took out the five vampires Lorne, Xander, and Anya had been facing, and they quickly moved on to others.

With the amount of energy she contained back to workable levels, Willow focused on the demon in front of her once again. With a scream of rage, the rest of Nwalyas magic was absorbed into the witch, and Willow was left blinking and she tried to focus on the scene in front of her.

Little bits of fire seemed to be dancing around him. After four tries, Willow was able to make out tiny bodies inside the flames. Another blink had her realizing that the figures from her stomach had slid off her skin and were flitting here and there as they set fire to the skin they touched.

Nwalya began screaming as the fires quickly spread to cover his body. Flames burst from his eyes and mouth as he fell to rest on the floor.

As quickly as they had set on, the little figures retreated. They slid up her legs and arms to encircle her waist. The figure that Willow had deemed her private fairy, once resting on the tip of one toe, settled into an almost impish crouch in the same spot.

She had a moment to take in the pile of ash that had once been a ten-foot tall demon before a whooshing sound caught her attention and a whirl of black leather settled around her naked body. "Spike."

"Willow." Crystal blue eyes took in the smooth skin of her face as strong hands ran over her body in an attempt to find any unhealed wounds.

Silky hair was suddenly fisted in her delicate hands as she burrowed into his chest and wept. Fear, pain, and anger, all pushed aside for too long, surfaced and crashed over her.

"Im here, Red." Spike rained kisses over her face before he settled for a long, deep kiss on her upturned lips. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Willow let him sweep her up into his arms, and he turned to face their friends.

Willow saw that Angel was carrying an unconscious Buffy over his shoulder. Everyone had made it out. There were cuts, bruises, and limps; but everyone made it.

A soft chuckle rumbled Spikes chest, and she pulled back to look up into his smiling eyes. "Whats so funny?"

Spike quirked an eyebrow and sat her in the front seat of the DeSoto. "My way, pet?"

Willow could only laugh as Cordelia slid in the passenger door and Xander, Anya, and Dawn filed into the back seat before Spike climbed in and started the engine.


	17. Chapter 17

The group, most of them bleeding and battered, trudged through the back hall of the hotel to collapse in tired heaps in the lobby.

"Parts of me hurt that I didnt even know I *had*." Xander had sunk down on the couch; Anya and Dawn curled on either side. Anya just looked tired, bruised, and dirty, while Dawns eyes glistened with sorrow on top of everything else.

"Whats going to happen to her?" The younger brunette looked to Buffys still form as Angel all but dumped her into a chair.

Spike growled low in his throat, but Willow put a staying hand on his chest. She knew her lover was to the point that Buffys unconscious state wouldnt stop him from breaking her neck. Pushing harder on the vampire in an effort to get him to even acknowledge that her hand was there, Willow amended that. He wouldnt break her neck; hed rip her head from her body completely. Somehow, that didnt seem like it would be a good thing for Dawn to see.

"We could send her to the Council." Wesley polished his glasses as he spoke.

"Shed just get away and do something else." Dawns quiet, sorrowful words brought Spike up short, and he moved to hold her as she wept silent tears. "You saw how she was. Shes still the slayer, but she isnt Buffy anymore."

"There is a spell that will take her powers." Giles sighed tiredly and motioned to the stairs. "I brought the book its contained in when we fled."

"But shed be killed!" Willow caught Spikes eyes on her and shrugged. "Youre all safe now. I was only angry at her for putting you guys in danger like that. I was friends with her for years, and I cant be the reason shes dead."

"You can do the spell, and Ill take her to the compound. We can keep her safe there, try to figure out what to do from there." Giles nodded to himself even as he moved to the phone. "Ill stay with her."

"Isnt Faith still in prison?" Xander nodded when Angel nodded at him. "Maybe you could see what they could do about that? Im not a fan of hers, but Im also not up for fighting vamps on the hellmouth without a slayer."

Giles smiled humorlessly and spoke to the international operator. "Yes, I would like to place a call to London, England."

Willow, realizing that she wore only Spikes duster excused herself to retrieve something more substantial.

Three days later, Willow was still recovering from the spell she worked on Buffy to remove her from the slayer line. It hadnt been the spell that had drained her emotional coffers so much as the words the blonde had used when she awoke to find herself handcuffed and sitting in the middle of the lobby.

When she couldnt so much as flip out of the chair, the ex-slayer had become irate and wasted no time in cutting into Willow. The redhead had taken it all in stride while in the small blondes presence, telling herself repeatedly that the creature in front of her wasnt the same woman shed been friends with for years. It had worked for the most part, and she was able to make it to the suite she shared with Spike before collapsing in tears.

After that, aside from a quiet good-bye spoken from the head of the stairs, shed avoided being anywhere near the ex-slayer from then on out.

Dawn had been crying for days, not sure what was going to happen to her. Willow was able to locate the Summers long absent father and spoke to him at length about Dawn becoming emancipated now that Buffy had the opportunity to go to London to study.

When he agreed to help in any way, Willow hacked her way into what systems she could to speed the process along. Angel donated a rather disturbing amount of money to the cause to ensure that the girl would meet any financial standards that may be checked. When Cordelia pressed the issue, he told them that it was from one of the accounts Angelus held. He also offered her a job in research and development, completely disregarding Willows statement that there wasnt anything at Angel Investigations to develop. Willow had only nodded when Angel gave a pointed glance at Dawn and Gunns whispered conversation and gotten back to work.

The legal system was easily manipulated in a number of ways, and Faith walked into the lobby three hours after Buffy was pulled out.

"Hey, English." Faith dropped the paper bag that held all her belongings and moved to stand in front of Wesley. "I hear youre my Watcher again."

"Yes." The newly reinstated Watcher looked her over in an appraising manner. "It seems as though youre in excellent shape."

"I love it when you talk dirty."

Wesley only shook his head and motioned to the stairs. "Go find a room and then come back down. I think we should see if you need to brush up on anything."

Faith tossed a Hey, roomie in Angels direction as she sprinted up the stairs.

"She always run around like that?" Gunn had to pull Dawn out of the slayers way as she nearly barreled over them in her haste.

"Shes been in a cage too long." Spike came from the kitchen, sipping a mug of warmed blood. "Shell slow down after a few days."

"Ready to leave?" Angel grinned at Spike and Willow over the rim of his own mug. "Where are you taking her, anyway?"

"None of your business, Sire." Spike finished off his snack and set the empty mug on the top of Cordelias computer monitor, grinning at the disgusted look she graced him with. "Cant tell you, or itll ruin her surprise. Cmon, witch."

Willow managed a quick goodbye as Spike pulled her tired body from the room, down the hall into the garage, and to the door of Angels car.

"Were taking Angels car?" Willow knew there was no way the Irish vampire would willingly part with the vehicle.

"I asked, pet." Spike fished the keys from his pocket and held them up to glint in the light. "Told him how the blacked windows and speed made you sick. Should I worry that he caved so quick when I mentioned you?"

"Nope." Willow waited until Spike circled the car and climbed in before settling herself against his side. "Im not in love with him. Im in love with you."

A soft chuckle tickled her sleep-sensitized ear. "Good to know. Take a nap now, itll be a while."

Willow couldnt believe she had slept through the entire drive, but the car was no longer moving, and Spike was shaking her awake. She blinked owlishly at him and stretched as fully as her seat would allow. The scent of roses assaulted her senses as she yawned. Leaning forward to look around Spikes bent form, she smiled. "Spike?"

"Got the same room as before and everything, luv." Spike grasped her hand and pulled her from the car. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he led her up the rose-bordered walk to the beautiful blue house sitting on the cliff.

"Hello, Keemara." Willow grinned tiredly at the lovely blue woman. "How are things with NGutya?"

"Welcome back to the Blue Shell! Things are good," a slender hand ran over a flat stomach. "Croman will have a little sister soon."

Willow smiled and began to say something. Unfortunately, a rather loud, unladylike yawn erupted instead. "Sorry."

"Dont be." Keemara slipped a key into Spikes hand. "You know the way."

"Thanks pet." Spike left the luggage for Croman, who had just came scurrying up, and picked Willow up with ease.

She let her head rest against Spikes shoulder as he began climbing the stairs. She opened them to see him hand Croman the key to their door. Another blink, and she felt the cool sheets envelope her in their cool comfort. When she managed to force them open again, she saw Spike hand a few bills from the back of his wallet to their little blue helper.

"Did you just give him a hundred dollars?" Willow knew she was using her sleep now voice, but couldnt seem to make herself wake up.

She was so busy deciding to blame the salty air and calming crash of the waves below that she didnt notice Spike undressing. Seeing Spike clad in only an unbuttoned pair of jeans that hung loosely on his slim hips got her mind back in order quickly enough.

"Two hundred, pet." The blonde moved to his suitcase and pulled out a prettily wrapped present that he handed to Willow with a soft smile. "Hes going to have a little sister to take care of soon. That takes money these days."

Willow sat cross-legged to face Spike as he sat on the bed. At Spikes nod, she tore open the paper slowly, not knowing what to expect. A few rips sent a pile of deep green satin pooling in her lap.

Spike held the gown by its straps and gave it a shake to unfurl its length. "To replace the other."

Willow gathered it into her arms to rub her cheek along the material. Standing quickly, she held her hands out to her side and gave an impish grin. "Dress me?"

Spike chuckled and nodded, quickly moving to do away with the skirt and tank top she had worn for the drive. Her sandals slipped off her feet easily. Still seated on the floor at her side, Spike slid fingers under the elastic sides of her panties and drew them down her legs for her to step out of. A flick of his fingers sent the matching bra fluttering to the floor.

Spike moved to the bed, throwing the gown over one shoulder before moving behind her and pulling the few pins he had fixed into her hair to hold most of it up. There was a movement behind her, and Willow almost turned to look at Spike when the soft sound of an unused hinge floated to her ears, but Spikes strong hand stopped the action.

There was a muted thump, and Spikes hands were suddenly in front of her face with something strung between them. Willow blinked as the dim light of the two soft lamps caught the silver of the necklace and brought out the reds and oranges of the gems. It was a simple strand, though Willow knew it had to have been custom made for her.

Each setting was made of a long, wicked looking silver object that Willow quickly realized was a railroad spike, and a deep orange stone that, by some trick of the cutting looked as if it were crackling with flames. Eighteen little sets made up the strand. Willow could only look from it to Spikes grinning face and back again in wonder.

"Oh, Spike." Willow pulled her hair up so Spike could clasp the chain behind her neck. "I love it."

"Knew you would, pet." Spike tossed the gown over the back of a chair and began kissing along Willows spine.

"It wasnt too much, was it? I dont want you to spend all your money on me."

"Ive got enough to spend." Spike turned her to face him and cradled her face in her palms, sinking long fingers into her curls. "Theres almost nothing more fun than buying things for you."

"Almost?" Willow felt her body respond to the devilish grin and quirked eyebrow she got in response. Spike sucked in his cheeks in that Im so damn good way of his, and Willow wondered if it were possible to orgasm from simply looking at his face.

One strong hand settled in the small of her back, bringing her hips up against his. He cradled the back of her head with the other and pressed his forehead against hers as he looked her in the eye. "I think youre dressed enough for now."

"Youre overdressed." Willow smiled happily and pushed at the offending jeans.

Spike only chuckled and placed her in the center of the bed before walking around the foot of the bed to lay his cigarettes and lighter on the trunk that sat there. Peeling the last piece of his clothing off, his eyes fairly gleamed with seductive mischief as he ran his eyes over her exposed flesh. Placing a hand on either side of her legs, he drew himself onto the bed.

Sleek, toned muscles knotted and coiled under porcelain skin as Spike began crawling up the bed. His soft lips and the tip of his nose were a mere inch above her body as he paused, blue eyes focused on green, to take in the heady scent of her arousal. Willow jumped when his actions caused a bolt of arousal to surge through her. The arousal brought more wetness in its wake, and Willow gulped when Spikes eyes dilated in response.

Spike was moving again. His eyes were still on hers as he moved, and Willow could see the flickering of amber around the wide pupils. The rise and fall of his shoulder blades as he crawled reminded her of the videos she used to watch of lions hunting, and Willow wondered if their prey welcomed them as she welcomed Spikes delicious weight.

Spike ran his tongue over the links of the necklace as he settled between her eagerly spread thighs. A slow deep thrust had Willow arching off the bed, scoring his back with her bitingly sharp nails, as he took his time entering her. "Mmmm, Spike."

At the sound of his name, Spike braced his weight on one forearm and ran the other hand down her side to caress her breast. Willow wrapped a leg around his waist and wriggled against him in an attempt to get him to move, earning a soft chuckle from the blonde and a softly tweaked nipple.

"Calm down, Willow." Spike planted soft wet kisses along her neck and chest while his hands moved to still her impatient movements. Gripping her hips, he pressed them into the mattress. "Ive got you."

A cool mouth closed over Willows left breast as Spikes hips began their movements, and she felt her back bowing in response. A groan floated from Willows chest when he entered her again, twisting his hips to give her clit the pressure it needed to start the little spasms that heralded the beginning of her orgasm.

"I love you." Willow pulled Spike to her for a deep kiss before biting into the side of his neck. Her blunt teeth sank deeply enough to draw blood, and Willow tasted copper.

"Red," Spike groaned and slammed into her as his climax ripped through him and he slid sharp fangs into the faint scar of his claim. He pulled back just enough to speak against the flesh under his lips. "I love you, Willow."

Willow gave a soft groan as Spike began moving inside her again, knowing that it was going to be another long night. Looking up at her lover, she knew she wouldnt want it any other way. "Forever."

"Most definitely." Long fingers smoothed a curl from her eyes. "And forevers never sounded so good."

Willow could only agree as another blissful wave of pleasure slid over her.

THE END.


End file.
